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!