A Day Without Shoes

During our high school career, my teammates Kelly Blackburn, Micah Matlock, Morgan Dawson and I all attended the Washington Leadership Conference. There, we defined our purposes as leaders, learned the importance of valuing people, created action plans to live that purpose out, and finally to serve others by combining those three concepts. 

One service project touched on during the conference was Toms Shoes... a company with a One For One mission... you purchase one pair of shoes, and another pair of shoes is sent to someone who really needs them. 

• In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water & to seek medical help.
• Cuts & sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• In Ethiopia, approximately 1 million people are suffering from podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil. 
• Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene & wearing shoes.

 We shared these facts with our teammates. So, while Miss Megan Klotz & Miss Janna Oxford were touring Section II for Star Visits, Nellie Bell joined us 4 W.L.C. graduates in Toms 1 Day Without Shoes.

After traveling the State for Chapter Awards Banquets, I traveled barefoot into Chase Bank to deposit my expense report check. 

Nellie went to Goodwill to return some costumes for leadership conferences, where her lack of shoes went unnoticed.

While trying to pick up some groceries for the Officer House, Micah and I got kicked out of Wal-Mart, and moments later Nellie was barred from entering... (you know what they say: "No shoes, no service.")

Dawson enjoyed having her oil changed while we all kicked up our bare feet in the waiting room of Jiffy Lube in Greenwood.

It was an eye opening experience... the deviance from the social norm, the feeling of being malequiped for daily interaction, the tiny fraction of pain that thousands endure every day...

There is a Native American proverb that says "Do not criticize a man until you have walked for a day in his moccasins". 

Why not walk a day without moccasins, and then aid a child who does just that every day?

Order your Toms, and someone elses, at http://www.toms.com/

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

Barn Dancin' in the FFA

One extremely important component of FFA is F-U-N! Last night our team was able to join in on some MAJOR fun that the Scottsburg FFA and West Washington FFA Chapters hosted at the 1^st Annual Scottsburg FFA and West Washington FFA Barn Dance! After buying the State Officer Team at one of the leadership conferences a few months ago, members and advisors of both Chapters came up with the idea to hold a barn dance and invite the State Officers as well! If I had to guess, I don’t think anyone initially thought it would be as awesome as it ended up being!

Held in Washington County, Indiana, the family of a West Washington FFA member donated their barn for the dance to be held in…bought thirty pizzas for us to eat…and even paid for thirty more minutes of dancing before we called it a night! Everyone present had on matching barn dance t-shirts that were specifically made for the dance! Beth Nicholson of Beth Nicholson Photography was present taking pictures and capturing as much of the fun as her camera could hold! A DJ had lights all over the dance floor and a huge screen for the music videos of all the songs that were played! To add to the excitement, a Barn Dance Queen and Barn Dance Queen were selected and received decorated cowboy hats! Taylor Durbin and Lucas Gilbert, King and Queen and both of the West Washington FFA Chapters, then shared a fun dance together before everyone else joined in! After clean-up was completed at the end of the night, the officers of both Chapters presented a banner signed by everyone to the family that donated the barn and made the evening possible!

From all of the dust that was floating around by the end of the evening, it is clear that cupid was without a doubt shuffled, boots were definitely scooted, and the electric had been slid! From my knowledge, very few Chapters have the bond that Scottsburg FFA and West Washington FFA have, which only assists their members in building the FFA relationships that will last a lifetime! Thank you Scottsburg FFA, West Washington FFA, and all volunteers for a great evening and tons of fun! 

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

A Weekend ReTREAT!

This past weekend, myself, Micah and Janna spent our time hanging out with the North Montgomery FFA Chapter. We began early Saturday morning learning about motivation, commitment, career development events, team development, and communication. We had a great time getting to know the FFA members. One of the most memorable events of the weekend was Saturday evening during reflections. We all shared thoughts and words of wisdom about some of the life circumstances that we have all dealt with. After reflections, almost every single FFA member came up to myself and my teammates and thanked us…genuinely. By Sunday we had gained thirty-three new friends and many memories.

As state officers we are allotted one weekend home a month to see family. This past weekend was our scheduled weekend home. Janna, Micah and I have never made a better decision than to stay here in Trafalgar. It truly was a TREAT.

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

In Celebration of National Teach Ag. Day!

National Teach Ag Day is a day to celebrate school-based agricultural education and to encourage agricultural education advocates, especially current agricultural educators (middle school, high school, post-secondary, pre-service programs, etc.) to share with others the great career opportunities in agricultural education.  Agricultural education teaches students about agriculture, food and natural resources.  Through these subjects, agricultural educators teach students a wide variety of skills, including science, math, communications, leadership, management and technology.

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to a couple Ag teachers about their careers:

Mr. Ben Leu

Prairie Heights FFA Chapter Advisor

How many years have you been teaching Ag?

“I am in my 4^th year of teaching.”

Why did you want to become an Ag teacher?

“Family tradition – my grandfather was an Ag teacher for over 35 years at Prairie Heights even through serving in the Army.  Being an Ag teacher that long and creating so many relationships and impacting so many students like he did made it seem like a logical decision especially after all my time in FFA.  So with that being said, a lot of it was my family and understanding the opportunities that come with receiving a degree of Ag Education.  I saw that there are countless benefits of becoming an Ag Teacher.”

What do you enjoy most about teaching Ag?

“The competitive nature of being an Ag Teacher and an FFA advisor is very enjoyable for me.  Just a few weeks ago we won Top Chapter in our district.   The other thing is working with students that you know probably wouldn’t succeed in other areas and finding a niche for them to fit into, and grow, and set them up for career success.”

What is your favorite CDE in FFA to have students compete in?

“My favorite CDEs would have to be the speeches and demonstrations.  I love to see a student who isn’t a great public speaker take a topic that they enjoy and put a demonstration together then present it well.  We push students to do just that a lot.  It’s amazing how many contests we can do in one year.  I’ve been impressed with our novice Chapter Meeting team that consists of 7^th and 8^th graders and Freshmen.  This year we were able to win district.  Competitions like that allow teachers to be able to see students of all ages shine.”

Do you have any success stories of any members you’ve taught over the years?

“The biggest success story in four years is tough to draw from all the students I’ve seen in four years now.  There is one student in particular that I’ve had in various Ag classes in the past four years.  He lives in what is probably not the nicest house you could imagine can comes from a tough home life.  He loves to fish, and before he came to us he had never been around Ag at all.  When he got into middle school we got him into fundamentals and now he stays every day after school helping around our Ag building and he takes care of our fish in our aquatic science tanks and has really found a niche to grow and develop in as he becomes more and more involved with us.  Watching him grow and watching him make positive life decisions because of his involvement with Ag is a perfect example of why Ag Education and FFA can have such a positive effect on students lives.”

Mrs. Diana Arellano

Knightstown FFA Chapter Advisor

How many years have you been teaching Ag?

“I’ve been teaching Ag for 4 years.”

Why did you want to become an Ag teacher?

“Becoming an Ag teacher was something that came to me very unexpectedly.  I fell into it. Looking back on it, it was a “by the grace of God” type event in my life and now looking back I wonder why I haven’t taught Ag for the last 20 years in my life instead of the past 4!  I love it and I’m having a great time doing it.”

What do you enjoy most about teaching Ag?

“I enjoy working with the students.  I enjoy the fast paced nature of it.  There is always something that changes.  Until you’re exposed to that educational environment, I feel that as you grow older you maybe stop learning information.  There is simply so much to learn out there in our Agriculture Industry and I enjoy learning about all I’ve been exposed to through Ag Education.”

Before teaching Ag, did you have an Ag background?

“I have an extensive background in agriculture.  I was raised on a purebred cattle operation.  I was involved in 4-H and FFA during my high school career.  I went on to Purdue University where I received an Animal Science Degree.  I spent some years working for some beef breed registries including the American Shorthorn Association in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as the American Gelbvieh Association in Denver Colorado.  And now, here I am employed as an Ag Teacher!”

What is your favorite CDE in FFA to have students compete in?

“My favorite CDE is Livestock Evaluation.  Simply because that’s where my background is, that’s where my passion is, and that’s where my interest is.  It’s my favorite to coach and recruit new people into.  I do love, in my new experience in teaching and FFA, seeing students compete in the Parliamentary Procedure CDE.  I’ve learned a lot about the CDE and I love seeing students step up to their leadership potential in that area.”

The state of Indiana was fortunate enough to receive a grant from the NAAE to assist our IAAE foundation.

Indiana is very lucky this year in being able to claim this year’s NAAE President, Greg Curlin of the Switzerland County FFA Chapter.

Visit these links to help in promoting National Teach Ag Day!

Vist National Teach Ag day on their website:

http://www.naae.org/teachag/

Follow TeachAg on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/Teach_Ag

Micah Matlock

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

Celebrating

"Never never never give up." -Winston Churchill

Members of the Indiana FFA never give up. They put in long hours, blood, sweat, tears and dedication to pursue their agricultural and leadership careers.

The spring is typically a time for those FFA members to celebrate the fruits of their efforts at Chapter Banquets. Thursday evening, North Harrison FFA members in Ramsey, Indiana celebrated a year of heavy involvement and high achievements. From the State Entomology Winner to their District X Proficiency winners, from the Soils Evaluation Teams to the newly elected officer team, awards were given and words of thanks were spoken by the stakeholders of North Harrison FFA.

I had the privilege of sharing with the dozens of FFA stakeholders present the importance of recognizing success, being confidence and competing against oneself. 

North Harrison, thank you for striving towards excellence in your school, chapter and community. Continue succeeding, and continue bettering your agricultural program for the students who will reap its benefits long after you've moved down the road. 

Country Mark, thank you for taking pride in your brand and in the FFA brand. Without this wonderful partnership, celebrating these FFA members would not be possible.

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

New leaders, New experiences.

Kelly and Janna traveled to Washington DC with members and staff of Indiana Farm Bureau on their New Leaders trip.  We journeyed to the airport on Tuesday morning and made our way to our Nation's Capitol.  After arriving safely in DC we visited the New Zealand Embassy and learned about agriculture there.  New Zealand is actually the number one exporter of sheep meat and number one in the exports of dairy products.  After our visit with New Zealand, we traveled to a nearby seafood restaurant  where we had dinner and listened to President Don Villwock speak about issues and the happenings with Farm Bureau and issues with bills concerning agriculture.  On Wednesday we had an enjoyable breakfast with guest speakers who spoke on the bills in the Senate and the House of which would be affecting farmers and agriculture in general.  The rest of the day was spent on Capitol Hill.  We first met with Senator Coats as we discussed the issues facing agriculture.  Some such issues included regulations for farmers, estate tax, clean water and air acts, alternative fuels such as ethanol, the Perkins Act, and many more.  After meeting with Senator Coats, we had the opportunity to meet with some members of the House Ag Committee. They spoke of the process of the farm bill and how long it normally takes.  For the farm bill of 2008, hearings began in 2006 and the process took over 2 years!  Next Kelly and I had the chance to meet with our Representatives from our respective districts with the Farm Bureau members.  For the end of the day, we met with Senator Lugar and again discussed the same issues with him.  Today (Thursday) at breakfast we listened to Anne Hazlett speak about energy issues and Tom Buis who works for Growth Energy speak about ethanol and energy issues.  We then toured the American Farm Bureau Federation building.  Free time around Washington DC will conclude our trip this afternoon before flying back to Indianapolis.  This trip has been a great experience to learn about politics and learn just how we go about sparking to our congressmen about issues facing our agricultural industry.

Kelly and Janna

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture

Agriculture Day at the State House

After months of anticipation, we zipped up our jackets, loaded up our cars and walked up the limestone steps of the State House. Gov. Mitch Daniels proclaimed March as Indiana Agriculture Appreciation Month, and stakeholders of FFA and Indiana Agriculture attended a celebration Monday, March 7th to kick of this month of appreciation.

From conversing with legislators, lobbyists and agricultural businesspeople, to remarks from Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, the day was full of educational opportunities and fuel for the passion of all agriculturists in attendance.

Thank you to everyone who made this day possible. Whether you were able to enjoy fellowship with us in downtown Indy or not, we appreciate everything you have done. We look forward to hearing your stories, seeing your impact and making our agricultural industry better than ever.

Keep a look out on Facebook, Twitter and ISDA for updates on Indiana Agriculture Appreciation Month!

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture