Semester Review

 We are wrapping up a very productive semester here at SBA.  First of all, we want to thank all of our supporters who have given of their time, talent and treasure to help our chapter grow.  We are blessed!

 The students worked on a variety of projects for the auction including picnic tables for kids, saw horses, edible treats and horse trimming stands.

 All of these projects provided excellent hands-on learning opportunities as well as giving the students ownership in the school benefit auction.  They worked hard and took a lot of pride in what they made.

Thanks to all the students for their hard work so far this year!

State Leadership

 Congratulations to Shelby for finishing 7th in our state in Prepared Public Speaking.  She worked very hard and performed well.  The Leadership CDE's are a great way for students to gain confidence in their people skills and get to know other FFA members from across the state.

November Happenings

 November is a busy month with Leadership Career Development Events.  We had 6 students competing in the following areas: Prepared Public Speaking, Extemp. Speaking, Ag Broadcasting and Job Interview.

 Our students did very well in their practice events as well as the district event in Miller on November 15th.  Shelby took first place in Prepared Public Speaking and will be going on to State.  She also became the first member from SBA to be chosen for a district officer position.  Congratulations!  Andrew finished 4th in Extempt Speaking and is an alternate for State.

 We had a chance to swing into the Prairie View Vet Clinic for a tour earlier this month.  Students toured their small animal and large animal working areas and got to meet some of the staff.

 Throughout the year we get to help out with projects around the community including tree removal and landscaping.  Many hands make light work and our students are a blessing to our neighbors and our neighbors are very supportive of our chapter.  Thank you to all who read this and encourage us along the way!

Cattle Handling Clinic

 Here are some pictures from a cattle handling clinic we attended hosted by SDSU in Philip at the Cottonwood Research Station.

 The clinic had a great balance of indoor and outdoor activities and gave the students hands-on experiences in animal science which they enjoyed!

 They were putting in CIDR's to prepare these cows for embryos and the students were able to help with that.

 We had a couple of sibling pairs with us including these two brothers below.

 The SDSU staff did a great job hosting the clinic and the students walked away with an abundance of knowledge and experience in safely handling cattle.

ATV Safety Video Contest

ATV injuries and deaths strike close to home for many of our area farmers and ranchers.  Below is a link to a contest which our landscaping class will be competing in.  Use the website and links provided to research your information and come up with a plan for your video. The video must include:

• Statistics of ATV injuries and deaths
• Proper use of PPE
• Common types of accidents with ATV
• Prevention of injuries and fatalities
• The video may only be 60 seconds long so editing will be required!
• Due on Thursday, November 17th 
• https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/cscash/research/cascadeffa.pdf 

National Convention Video

The National FFA Convention took place last week in Indianapolis.  Many South Dakota teams did very well in the competitions including Miller in Ag Communications and Highmore in Livestock Evaluation and Parliamentary Procedure.  Linked below is an incredible speech by Jason Brown, who played in the NFL and gave up his football career at the age of 27 to become a farmer.  I would encourage you to watch his speech and testimony to God's work in his life:

https://pulse.ffa.org/index.php/2016/10/21/keynote-jason-brown-believes-in-the-future-of-agriculture/

Landscaping Class

Our landscaping class has been busy this fall trimming trees on campus.

Today we were blessed to have Kent and Adam from the NRCS in Miller come and help us do soil sampling on the football field

The goal of our soil sampling is to improve our fertility and treatment of the field to provide a better playing surface.

 The soil samples will be sent to a lab in Sioux Falls where it will be analyzed and the results as well as recommendations will be sent back to us.  

 We have a great community in Miller who are willing to help us out with projects like this.  Thanks for everyone who has been willing to help out!

Here comes fall

 Today we went to range judging school in Wessington.  The students did very well and are coming along on their range skills.

 The school is set up to where we go through 2 plant lines and 2 sites in the morning.  Then we review those in the afternoon with help from the NRCS.

 The Agri-business class toured our neighbors' club calves last week.  Club calves are bid on by potential buyers from the pasture and then the top ones go on to become show cattle.  

 Fall also means tarping silage piles for our neighbors, which you can see in the next 2 pictures.

 Below are a couple of leftover pictures from the state fair.  Our Leadership class created a display that was shown in the FFA building.

September Stroll

 Last week members of our FFA chapter spent many hours at the State Fair.  This is an enjoyable yet exhausting experience as we entered competitions and served in various capacities.

 The above pictures show most of the crew who went to help at the Pork Producer's booth and the redesigned  FFA Ag Adventure area.

 Our crew does an excellent job helping with the Pork Producers and they are always anxious to get our students back for the next year.  I'm impressed with the work ethic and maturity of our students in a face-paced concession stand at the State Fair.

 Our Leadership class created a chapter display which we entered in a contest.  The display took 6th place overall and the students did a wonderful job designing and creating a display to promote our chapter and the FFA theme for this year which is "Transform: purpose to action"

 Another new thing this year was competing in the Farmer's Union Safety Quiz Bowl.  Our team did well and lost a heart breaker in tie breaker to McCook Central.  They finished in third place.  Congratulations to our students for a job well done!

 The quiz bowl was on the Freedom Stage in front of many more people than the students were used to seeing.

 The FFA redesigned their approach this year and created interactive displays instead of the traditional petting zoo.  Here the students are helping at the chicken station.

Our landscaping class has been hard at work trimming trees and they are developing a good eye for shape and beauty.  We have plenty of work on and off campus to keep us busy for a while.  Thanks for tuning in!

Time to roll again!

 Hello students, parents and friends-We are rolling along on another exciting school year!  This is the 4th year of our school's Agricultural Education and FFA program and every year is uniquely different in the students we have and opportunities God brings our way.

Above is a picture of students from the landscaping class helping get the football field ready for the opening game last week.  Nice glasses!

 As usual, we start off with range science in Exploring SD Ag.  This is a great way to engage students in God's wonderful creation and learn about the biodiversity found on the prairie ecosystems.

 Students participate in a variety of group projects and learn how to work with others.

 The Leadership class is building an FFA display (see below pictures) for the State Fair.  Stop into the FFA buildings to check out the display and more!

 The students came up with a design and will be putting the finishing touches on this week.

 Our chapter was awarded a grant from Farm Credit Services last year to purchase laptop computers for our classroom.  God has blessed us with many organizations and individuals coming alongside of us to support our chapter.  A huge thank you to all who helped and to God alone be the glory!