Fairfield FFA plans pancake breakfast Feb. 21

Each year, FFA Chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. It is a time to share what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day. The Fairfield FFA Chapter has had a busy start to the year under new Advisor, Elly Stremsterfer.

We started the school year off with a Soil Judging contest in Muscatine. The chapter took two teams to sub-districts. Shortly after soil judging, 12 students packed up and headed to Indianapolis for the 97th Annual FFA Convention. The chapter stopped in Springfield, Illinois and went through the Abe Lincoln Presidential Museum. While at convention, FFA members attended general sessions, visited the Career Fair and listened to keynote speakers, including non-other than Dr. Temple Grandin.

Following the National Convention, the FFA Chapter headed to Des Moines with 35 members to compete in the Iowa Pork Judging contest. Students worked in teams of four to judge a variety of swine classes along with a written exam.

During the month of December, Mrs. Stremsterfer and students made numerous visits to the elementary classrooms to give a short lesson on Christmas Trees. Angie Atwood, owner of Atwood's Seasonal Experience, provided different types of evergreens for examples. The students enjoyed having older kids in the classroom and learning about the different types of evergreen trees.

As we look toward the last trimester, we have a lot of things planned. Students are currently busy getting ready for Sub-District Leadership Development events. Later on in the spring, we will attend a few livestock judging contests as well as having an end of the year banquet.

For FFA Week this year, we have a few activities planned. Each day, FFA members are going to be hiding tiny ducks at the high school with a letter written on the bottom. High School students must find three ducks that spell out FFA. Students will turn in the ducks to claim a prize. For the elementary students, there will be a coloring contest. FFA Members will pick a winner from each class and winners will be announced on Facebook and the school newsletters.

Lastly, a pancake breakfast is planned for Friday, Feb. 21.

This year, Drive Your Tractor To School is not going to happen as it has in the past. It will be on Wednesday, May 7, in conjunction with our first annual Ag Day.

Over the last few months, our FFA members have been collaborating to create an experience that provides younger students an opportunity to experience agriculture. One of the things that I am truly passionate about is showing the younger generation how important agriculture is and how they can and will make an impact...even if they don't live on a farm.

We have come up with 10 different stations that elementary classes will rotate through. Each session will be 10 minute in length, and we are planning for 1 minute rotation time. The stations we have planned currently, but could change due to availability of animals and supplies, include: vegetable table, tractor, pigs, ice cream in a bag, plant a seed, chicks, bottle calf, lambs, butter, and games.

The Fairfield FFA Chapter is looking forward to all the activities and year-end events planned. If you have any questions about FFA or would like to know more, contact Elly Stremsterfer, Advisor at elly.stremsterfer@fairfieldsfuture.org

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