FFA members thank school board for the experience of a lifetime

EMILY GOJMERAC

REPORTER

Members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program came together Monday night to thank the board for allowing them to go to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The representatives from Gilman School, each gave a summary on what they enjoyed the most while attending the convention. Along with advisor, Jessica Korzeniewski, the students participated in this convention the week of Halloween from Tuesday, October 26 through Friday October 29. The members rode a charter bus along with students from Medford, Athens, Abbotsford, Mosinee and Amherst. There were over 52,000 FFA members who attended this convention from all over the world including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Jaylyn Orth mentioned “Our first stop on our way to the convention was Heartland Farms, located in Hancock Wisconsin. They grow potatoes, cranberries, soy beans, sweet corn, and much more. I was very interested to learn that they don’t use the larger potatoes for potato chips, instead they use them as seed starters for the next planting. Heartland Farms is a major supplier for the Frito Lay chip company. We got to go into a storage shed with an 18 foot tall pile of potatoes. They have very advanced technology for cleaning the potatoes and many other vegetables. My favorite part was learning how far everyone came from to be at this convention.”

Korzeniewski added “After the potato farm, we were able to stop in Chicago at the Shedd Aquarium, all of the girls loved this exhibit. They were also in awe of the skyscrapers of the city.”

Claire Drier said “This is my first year in FFA and I enjoyed this experience. During the opening session, they had lights going everywhere, and loud music was blasting, which made it very crazy. I’ve never been in a place with kids from all over America. There was about 52,000 people at this convention. I remember seeing students from Puerto Rico and was surprised to find out that they would have any type of farming there, considering that it is very tropical there. We were front and center at the Lucas Oil stadium, which I feel were the best seats. I’m hoping to go my next few years of high school.”

Ava Warner spoke on her experience saying “Along with exhibits, there were also 90 colleges available to talk about various programs that students may be interested in for whatever their career path may be. I talked with South Dakota State University, and the lady who I talked to gave me a great idea as to what their campus is like and which courses to take. I talked with them also about my softball career and how I would like to continue that in college.”

Workshops were provided for students to attend as well. They were able to pick which classes they wanted to attend. Tatum Weir, for example, chose a class about honey bees.

She said “I learned that honey bees lay up to 1,500 eggs a day, and they are the only bee to survive winter while preparing for the upcoming spring. Honey bees converse by walking in patterns on the walls, for example, if they are making a skinny figure eight pattern, they intend to stay close to the hive, but if they make a wide figure eight pattern, they intend to go farther away from the hive. To keep warm when cold, they huddle together and vibrate. While during the summer months, they spread their wings and flutter them to fan themselves to stay cool. My favorite part was the workshops because we got to meet new people from other states. We sat at a table with people from New York and it was very cool getting to know them.”

Jayda Rosemeyer said her favorite part was the expos and shopping malls. She said “We got to talk with some very cool people and they were all in shock when we told them that our high school only had 100 kids in it. Once they learned that, they wanted to know more about our little town. We got to learn about so many different things that many of us will never forget. Personally, I found the expos to be about animals the most interesting. It really opened my eyes to see how many careers I could have. The army booth really opened my eyes to a career I really love, working with dogs. They had a stuffed dog on the table that you were able to stitch and do multiple different things on to train you for being a vet in the army. I love working with dogs and am really interested in working with army dogs in the future.”

Korzeniewski also said “The entire downtown of Indianapolis is blocked off for this event.”

Everyone was more than grateful for this opportunity.

In other business, during the Superintendent’s Report, Walter Leipart, spoke on various ways to improve the student’s needs. The staff members had Non-violent Crisis Intervention training (CPI) during their in-service this past month. The staff was informed on ways they can help students work through their issues to prevent outbursts in the classroom and in school.

School report cards show that for the district even with the pandemic leaving a lot of kids out of school, the growth learning for the students has continued to improve.

The lack of substitute teachers throughout the state has continued to affect schools. With that said, Leipart told the board that he is in the planning stages of working with a new program called Head Rush. Leipart explained the program as a “Project management tool that has tutorials and instructional materials inside. It also has a way of tracking student’s growth standards. This is a tool that teachers can tap into if they are absent or out sick.”

Teachers will be able to see the progress of the students. This program is not new, it has been tested over time and has significant impact on student’s learning throughout the years. This would track each individual student’s progress.

Classes for students who are 3 years of age will begin once again to make sure their needs are met to the best of their ability. These classes could include child development classes, along with speech and language classes.

Special Ed director, Mary Zimmermann will be at the staff’s in-service to talk about ways to help kids with autism and other disabilities.

Parent/teacher conferences went well this past month.

Student absences due to COVID-19 have maintained at a steady rate with guidelines continued being followed.

Dean of Students, Adam Johnson, reported a Manufacturing event was provided through Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC), to start preparing 8th grade students towards their future. This program will help guide students in the right direction toward a career they would like to pursue.

There will be a video camera installed and will be shot from the southwest corner of the gymnasium to live stream basketball games. There will be a scoreboard along the bottom of the screen that is connected to the real scoreboard in the gym, so the scores will match.

Twenty-four students are taking college courses through CVTC.

Doug Skabroud has placed a bid to do the snow removal work for the next five years.