Hillsboro FFA gets to work

For the Hillsboro FFA chapter, summer time doesn’t mean break time. Even though the students have been out of school, they have stayed busy. Each FFA student has been working on their SAE projects, including livestock, job placement and crops. Other activities FFA members have been participating in this summer include WLC, OLC, FFA Camp, Cornhole Tournament and the FFA Officer Retreat.

This summer, members from across the United States traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the annual Washington Leadership Conference (WLC). The students there learned valuable leadership skills and met new people from a variety of different lifestyles. They visited many monuments and even had the opportunity to speak with many congressmen. On Saturday morning, all 300 attendees boxed 40,000 meals to send to Nicaragua to help fight hunger. Our members learned life-changing lessons and created lifelong friendships.

At Camp Muskingum, the Hillsboro FFA Chapter participated in Ohio Leadership Camp (OLC) and FFA Camp. While at these camps, FFA members sat through different workshops to learn team building skills such as Adventure Valley. The campers had free time to do outdoor activities such as rifle and shotgun shooting. The campers raised money for Children’s Hospital. They were introduced to a Farm Bureau representative, as well as a Nationwide Insurance representative.

On Saturday, July 7, the Hillsboro FFA Chapter held their annual Cornhole Tournament at the Festival of the Bells. Registration began at 9 a.m., and the tournament began at 10 a.m. Fifteen teams registered and participated in the tournament. The top three teams were awarded cash prizes. The first-place team included Jay Dotson and Sean Short. Brandon Hill and Jack Stagge came in second place, and in third were John Jones and Gary Francis. Thanks to all of the participants and FFA members that made the tournament possible.

On July 17, the Hillsboro officer team spent the day bonding and preparing for the upcoming year. They did many exercises to help build trust with each other and learn everyone’s personality. They did a trust fall exercise to learn how to work together. Then the officers played a game to learn about each individual. They also set up a schedule of the chapter's upcoming activities. The officers finished up the night by attending the Reds game.

The Hillsboro FFA Chapter would like to give a big thanks to TSC for donating a large quantity of paint to the FFA shop. These materials will be very useful for the future of the Hillsboro FFA class projects and community service projects.

These events are not the only summer events that the Hillsboro FFA Chapter will participate in. In addition to events that we have already participated in; we will be holding multiple FFA meetings and an FFA pool party. Members will be participating in the Ohio State Fair, Highland County Fair, the Hillsboro FFA Food Booth, the Ohio Legislative Leadership Conference, Soil Judging and more. The FFA chapter is ready for a busy and exciting year. There are many activities planned for the rest of the summer and the 2012-13 school year.