Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Students Celebrate National FFA Week
Anaelise Gates
Recently our Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter here at Farmington traveled to Hot Springs for our annual 360! leadership conference. We took students from a range of grades to experience this FFA tradition. This trip is full of laughs and learning during both days. From the bus ride to sharing bunk beds to attending activities, the trip was never dull.
Everything began as the chapter loaded the bus to depart for Camp Couchdale. Students spent hours getting to know each other and upperclassmen gladly shared games and company to keep everyone busy.
After the long ride, our chapter pulls into camp. As an upperclassman, I enjoyed seeing old friends as well as watching our young members make new ones. Eventually though, activities begin and the real fun begins.
Greenhands are separated into their own group and the teaching begins. The speakers stress the importance of individuality, persistence, and goals to young leaders in agriculture. There are so many lessons to absorb, and through games and lessons, every student learns something new.
Coming to the end of our 360 conference is disappointing, but at the same time it is also motivating. With the end of the conference, starts the beginning of the season. Teams bond, study, practice and are able to use their newly learned leadership skill through it all. This conference really does start the season off on the right foot and our chapter will continue to enjoy it for years to come.
Drake and Hunter Preston
When asked to participate in the Wreaths Across America ceremony, we always feel honored to be a part of such a wonderful cause. We have a lot of family members that are not only American heroes, but they are “OUR” heroes. Many of our family, which served in all branches of the military, are buried at the National Cemetery in Fayetteville. This event allows us to visit their grave site and pay tribute to them.
When placing the wreaths on each headstone, we are reminded of the men and women who sacrificed their lives for us. We have a lot of respect for our military and feel very proud to be a part of this activity and able to honor those that are fallen. This activity serves as a reminder of how important we must have been to them, for them to give their lives for us. We would not be able to participate in many things we do every day without those that have given us our freedom. It is very important for us never to forget the sacrifices that were made for us.
The wreaths are only a small token of appreciation and we are happy to do it. Thank you Farmington FFA for allowing us to honor our veterans!
Wyatt Hunt
The AJSS (Arkansas Junior Swine Series) is a series of four swine shows in NorthWest Arkansas that has just come into existence within the last three years. The series was originally created by four different families (including my parents) as a way to increase the amount of shows their children and other local children could go to without having to shell out large amounts of money in travel expenses.
Last year the series averaged 350 hogs a show and had more than 225 members enrolled. As a showman myself who has gone to every one of these shows, I can confidently say it has met and exceeded its original goal set by the four families who created it. The series now has exhibitors from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and more.
As you probably know, an organization or competition cannot run without some form of income or money and that is where the sponsors of the AJSS come in. There are more than 50 sponsors, including Moorman’s Showtec, Farmers CoOp, Morrow Heat & Air and many, many more. This money is not simply used to put the shows together and run them, it is given back to the exhibitors as cash payments and also in the form of an awards assembly at the end of the final show where every exhibitor present receives some form of award or prize to commemorate and congratulate them on their hard work.
Allee Lipford
This past spring and summer, I had the honor of working with a lamb that had been born on the Farmington FFA’s farm.
Being able to use this lamb was a huge help with my successful show season because I didn’t have to go on a search for a lamb that I thought would do well in shows. For hours I would be at the barn sitting there, letting him warm up to me more and more until finally I could get close enough to begin putting his halter on him.
After that, CrackerJack and I put in lots of time learning how to walk, how to set and how to brace.
Eventually, when August rolled around and it was time to kick it into gear and begin prepping for shows, he was more than ready. On show day I was nervous because he had never even been around this many lambs, much less performed in front of them. But to no surprise he did amazing for me and even got first place in weight class 4!
CrackerJack ended up getting 5th overall out of over 100 market lambs, and I was so proud of how well all of the hard work we had both put in paid off for us. Having this lamb come from my group of FFA family made winning my class at the Washington County Fair so much more memorable and meaningful!
Seth Horn
This past July, I had the pleasure of attending the FFA Chapter President’s Conference. It is designed to allow two officers from every chapter to come in and learn how to improve their own leadership skills and, in turn, improve their officer teams and chapters.
I greatly valued this opportunity, as it allowed me to grow as a leader, learn new ways to engage members so they can get the most out of FFA, and make new connections all across the state of Arkansas.
Sherrill Davis
Our chapter attended the Greenhand Conference. During the Greenhand conference, we went to different sessions, and every session was led by a different State Officer. In the first session, we got notecards, and on the first card, we put our name and just short amounts of stuff on it, and decorated it. Towards the end of the session, we got eight cards that say “l like to….” . Once we filled in those 8 cards, we went around the room and talked to others about what you had on your cards. If you had the same thing wrote on the card as another person, you would trade. After 1 minute, we went back to our tables, and we got two cards. One said “People like me,” and one said “I’m unique.” We then sorted our cards into those two piles.
When we went into the first session, everyone just sat with their chapters, but by the second session, the officers told us we had to sit with other people that we didn’t know. When I heard that, it was a little nerve-racking because I was going to have to talk to other people that I didn’t know. But, by the end of the session, I had realized that it wasn’t that bad. Going and sitting at a different table with different people for every session allowed me to meet a lot of new people from chapters all over the state.
Isabella Norsworthy
This past summer my sister Abigail Norsworthy and I attended the National FFA Washington Leadership Conference (WCL) held in Washington, D.C.
More than 300 FFA members participated in this week-long conference. As part of the conference we toured the Arlington National Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum, the Capitol and the Federal Triangle. In addition, we were able to meet with and engage our Arkansas State Legislators and Representatives. We even called the Hogs with them on the steps of the Capitol.
A significant part of our time was spent in leadership meetings discussing topics such as diversity, advocacy and global needs. The pinnacle of the conference was the service day project. Our group was able to pack over 1,000 meals for local residents of Washington, D.C. I am thankful and grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.