Nov & Dec Newsletter

Inside this issue:

OMS Continued 2

Officer Message 3

Peach State Judging

Contest 3

National Convention 4-5

Floriculture 6

SLG Program 7

Painting Party 7-8

Livestock Judging 8

Discovery Conference

9

November/December 2015 Volume 4, Issue 5

LOUISVILLE (Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015/National FFA Organization) – The West Jackson Middle FFA Chap-ter in Georgia has been named the 2015 National Outstanding Middle School Chapter Award winner at the 88th National FFA Convention & Expo in Louisville, Kentucky. The nation’s top five three-star chap-ters in the division competed for the award on Wednesday, October 28th. Each of the top five middle school chapters chose two members to give a 10 minute presentation. This presentation highlighted the nine ac-tivities that were featured on the chapter’s National Chapter Award. After the presentation, the judges were given 10 more minutes to ask the students questions about the ac-tivities, their presentation, and the application. West Jackson Middle FFA received a plaque in an onstage cere-mony during the convention and expo’s second general session on Thursday, October 29th. One of the presenters for West Jack-son Middle FFA was current Presi-dent, Savannah Van Buren. Savannah had this to say about going to the Na-tional FFA Convention, “The National FFA Convention was a magical expe-rience for me. The sessions were en-

West Jackson Middle FFA Named Outstanding Middle School

at the 88th National FFA Convention & Expo

tertaining and inspiring at the same time!” She went on to share, “I got to go on stage for the Outstanding Mid-dle School division, and we won! Pey-ton Puckett and I were very prepared, and I'm so happy that we won. If you are ever offered a chance to go to Na-tional Convention, take it: you won't regret it.”

Jackson County Comprehensive High freshman and former West Jackson Middle FFA President, Peyton Puck-ett, was the other presenter of WJMS FFA. This was the second straight year that West Jackson Middle FFA has been recognized by the National FFA Organization as one of the top

Newsletter West Jackson Middle FFA

Continued on page 2

Page 2 West Jackson Middle FFA Newsletter

Outstanding Middle School continued

five middle school chapters, and Puckett was a presenter for WJMS FFA last year as well. Peyton shared, “Winning outstanding middle school was one of the best feelings in the world. The nomi-nation its self was great but winning was out-standing! After preparing for months to promote our last year’s activities, the win was wonder-ful!” She went on to say, “I am so proud of our middle school and what we have achieved in the past few years and winning this really signifies just how much we have accomplished.” West Jackson Middle FFA sells custom wreaths as a fundraiser, so hosting a wreath-making class seemed like a natural fit for their Program of Ac-tivities. FFA members not only learned how to make wreaths but also learned how to critique work and give constructive criticism. They also teach community members how to make the wreaths. The Outstanding Middle School award, along with all National Chapter awards, is sponsored by John Deere as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. It is one of the many ways FFA members accomplish the FFA mission and suc-ceed in making a difference in their communities and the lives of others. The National FFA Organization provides leader-ship, personal growth and career success train-ing through agricultural educa-tion to 629,367 student mem-bers who belong to one of 7,757 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Page 3 Volume 4, Issue 5

My name is Ashlyn Tomlin, and I am your 2015-2016 WJMS FFA Reporter. I am so excited about serving you this year! This is my third year being in FFA, but it’s my first year as an officer.

I love everything about FFA especially how you don’t al-ways have to live on a farm to be involved! I come from the city and live in a subdivision, so I don’t really know what it is like first hand to grow up on a farm. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be involved in FFA. That’s what I love about this organization - it’s so open and welcoming to all types of peo-ple with all different backgrounds!

One of my favorite things to do in FFA is to compete in the Floriculture CDE. Our competi-tion was on November 10th, and we placed 6th out of 29 teams!

If you are interested in getting more involved in FFA, stop by the Ag Room to sign up for an upcoming event. You won’t regret it!

Officer’s Message

Livestock Judging team members from both East Jackson FFA and West Jackson Middle FFA competed at the Peach State Livestock Judging Contest in Perry, Georgia. This event took place in conjunction with the Georgia National Fair on October 17th.

The West Jackson Middle FFA team included Charlie Brooksher, Madyson McDaniel, Savan-nah Page, and Hannah White. The East Jackson FFA team included East Jackson Middle FFA members Bella Chandler and Makayla Gooch and East Jackson High FFA’s Wyatt Chandler.

These students judged market hogs, breeding gilts, market lambs, breeding ewes, market steers as well as breeding heifers. The FFA members were also required to give a set of oral reasons to judges to justify their placings.

FFA members’ scores were ranked individually and added together for their team scores. Char-lie Brooksher placed 10th overall, Bella Chandler placed 7th overall, Savannah Page placed 6th overall, and Wyatt Chandler placed 4th overall. The West Jackson team placed third in the con-test while the East Jackson team placed second in the contest.

East and West Jackson FFA Chapters Place in Judging Contest

West Jackson Middle FFA Newsletter


Jackson County FFA Chapters Attend National Convention

By Ashlyn Tomlin West Jackson Middle FFA Reporter

Members of East Jackson Middle School

and West Jackson Middle School FFA Chapters attended the 88th National FFA Convention on October 27th - 31st, in Louisville, Kentucky. East Jackson Middle FFA Members attending the convention were Allison Lounder, Bella Brook Chandler, Sara Saliba, Cheyanne Smith, Sammy Jones, Cale Howington, and Nathan Pagsisihan. West Jackson Middle FFA mem-bers attending the convention were Hannah White, Madyson McDaniel, Savan-nah Van Buren, Alyssa Bradley, Ashlyn Tomlin, and Charlie Brooksher. The trip started early Tuesday, October 27th when the FFA members met up with their FFA Advisors, Kate Wooten and April Davis, make the journey to Kentucky. In August, the both the East Jackson Mid-dle and West Jackson Middle FFA chapters were ranked as National Three Star Chapters which is the highest ranking a chapter can receive. Moreover, West Jackson Middle FFA was named as one of the five national finalists for the Outstand-ing Middle School award. This award is based off of the National Chapter

Award, and each of the five finalists was to cre-ate a 10 minute presentation about their appli-cation and be prepared for a 10 minute session of questions. On Wednesday, West Jackson Mid-dle FFA President Savannah Van Buren and for-mer President Peyton Puckett presented to a panel of judges as they competed for the honor of Outstanding Middle School chapter. Dr. April Howard, Superintendent of Jackson County School System, had this to say

about the accom-plishments: "Jackson County School Sys-tem is so proud of the outstanding work of our FFA stu-dents and leaders. Our district motto is "Student Success through Leadership, Character, and Per-formance." The mid-dle school FFA pro-grams provide quali-ty experiences where students rise to new levels of per-formance. We're ex-

ceptionally proud of the leadership and charac-ter demonstrated by our FFA students! We ap-preciate the recognition National FFA provides; it inspires students to work hard and reach new heights!"

When the group ar-rived in Louisville on Tuesday evening, they began their trip with a Horses and Haunts Tour at Churchill Downs. The students heard spooky stories and legends from the

Page 5 Volume 4, Issue 5

other side of the famous race track. On Wednesday, while Puckett and

Van Buren made their presentation, the oth-er Jackson County FFA members made a vis-it to Schmpiff’s Confectionery, where the owners make their own candy. While there, they got the opportunity to venture through the kitchen, museum and store. After the candy factory the FFA members went to Churchill Downs, home of the famous Ken-tucky Derby. The members got a tour of the track and derby museum.

The opening session on Wednesday

night was highlighted by an amazing, key-note speaker, Dr. Rick Rigsby. EJMS FFA member Sammy Jones shared, “Attending the National FFA Convention was a great experience. The sessions were filled with humor and inspirational speeches.” Between sessions, FFA members got the opportunity to go through the Career Show and Expo where they could check out booths about agriculture related colleges and universities as well as agriculture career opportunities. In addition to all of the college and career booths, the FFA mall offered the sale of FFA apparel and gear, as well as a multitude of other shops including boots, show supplies and souvenirs.

On Thursday, FFA mem-bers started the day by traveling into Indiana to visit Huber Farms Orchard and Winery for a tour of their facilities. The Sec-ond General Session was held later that afternoon, and Jackson County’s FFA members were able to share in the excitement as East Jackson Middle and West Jackson Middle FFA officers re-ceived awards for being ranked as Three Star National Chapters. Also during this session, WJMS was named Outstanding Middle School.

West Jackson Middle FFA Newsletter

On the Friday, FFA members went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, and got a tour of the facility where bats are made for professional and minor league baseball players before returning to the convention center for more time at the career show and expo. The convention was a great success for many, and it was an opportunity for the Jackson County’s FFA members to make lasting memories, see the big picture of FFA and the many opportunities and goals for their future FFA careers.


WJMS FFA Members Compete at FFA Floriculture CDE

West Jackson Middle FFA members competed at

the Area II FFA Floriculture Career Develop-

ment Event. This event was held at Franklin

County High School on November 10th, and

WJMS FFA members participating in the event

were Gracen Dutton, Harley

Martin, Noel Plunkett, and

Ashlyn Tomlin.

For the Floriculture CDE,

students are required to

learn to identify 50 common

floriculture plants including

flowers, house plants, and

bedding plants. In addition,

they take a 25 question gen-

eral knowledge test at the

contest. The WJMS FFA

team was in the junior divi-

sion where they competed

against other middle school chapters as well as

ninth grade teams. Overall, the team placed 6th

out of 29 teams! Moreover, Gracen Dutton was

the high scoring individual on the WJMS FFA

team and tied for 11th individually out of more

than 100 students!


WJMS FFA Launches the SLG Program

West Jackson Middle FFA recently launched a program called SLG which stands for Sharing, Learning, and Growing. This program will be used to learn more about agricultural educa-tion programs and FFA chapters from all across the nation.

Even though our chapter knows about other middle school chap-ters in Georgia and knows about some of the activities they might do, we decided that we would like to learn more about what middle school programs look like in other parts of the country.

In order to get the word out about this pro-gram, Mrs. Davis sent out a message on the Na-tional Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) Communities of Practice message boards as well as a nation-wide agriculture ed-ucation Facebook Group. We also created a meme and sent it out on our WJMS Instagram and Facebook page.

We sent out these messages in order to get email addresses from FFA Advisors who might be interested in participating in the SLG Pro-gram. We then sent them an initial email with a description of the program and a link to a Google form where the advisors could fill out information about their FFA chapters including contact info so that we could send them care packages about our FFA chapter! The goal for us is to develop a pen-pal type relationship with other middle school FFA chapters in order to learn more about hem and help us grow and develop our FFA chapter. So far, we have heard from 17 different schools that would like to participate, and they include the following states: Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, New Jersey, Texas, Mississippi, Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio! We are so excited to learn more about these FFA Chapters and their agri-culture programs, and we look forward to sharing that information with everyone!

WJMS FFA & FCCLA Chapters Host a Paint-ing Party at Sips N Strokes

The West Jackson Middle FFA & FCCLA Chapters took a trip to Sips N Strokes Paint Studio in Hosch-ton on November 12th. Check out some pictures from this fun event!


The FFA Area II Livestock Judging Ca-reer Development Event (CDE) was held on Tuesday, December 8th at the Habersham Cen-tral High School Livestock Facility in Mt. Airy. Twenty-two Senior teams and twenty-seven Junior teams competed at this event, and the top two teams in each division get to move on to the state competition.

For the Livestock CDE, students learn to judge various classes of livestock including both breeding and market classes of goats, sheep, swine, and cattle. In addition to judging classes of livestock, the FFA members also learn to defend their decisions with sets of oral reasons they present to judges.

The West Jackson Mid-dle FFA Livestock Judging team competed in the Junior division against other middle school teams and ninth grade teams. WJMS FFA Livestock Judging team members in-cluded Charlie Brooksher, Madyson McDaniel, Savannah Page, and Hannah White.

These students have been practicing since ear-ly August, and all their hard work paid off! The West Jackson Middle team took home first place honors at the area contest. Moreover, three members individually placed within the top 5 of the contest - Charlie Brooker was fifth place individual, Madyson McDaniel was fourth place individual, and Savannah Page was second place individual. After winning the area contest, the WJMS FFA team members now have their sights set on the State Live-stock Judging CDE in March.

West Jackson Middle FFA Competes in Area II Livestock Judging CDE

WJMS FFA & FCCLA Chapters Host a Painting Party at Sips N Strokes

The West Jackson Middle FFA & FCCLA Chapters took a trip to Sips N Strokes Paint Studio in Hosch-ton on November 12th. Check out some pictures from this fun event!

Page 9 West Jackson Middle FFA Newsletter West Jackson Middle FFA

West Jackson Middle School

400 Gum Springs Church Rd

Jefferson, GA 30549

Phone: 706-654-2775

Extension: 503

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: wjmsffa.wix.com/wjmsffa

The Discovery Conference is a wonderful opportunity for students in grades 6-8. It is a great way to get young members excited about the FFA and is designed to introduce middle school students to the oppor-tunities that FFA has to offer. Every middle school FFA chapter in the state is invited to attend this annual event, and the West Jackson Mid-dle FFA Chapter will be traveling with East Jackson Middle FFA to the conference.

The Discovery Conference will be held January 21st—22nd, 2016 at the Georgia FFA/FCCLA Center near Covington. Students should plan to wear casual (warm) dress for the entire conference. In addition to the Discovery Conference, the WJMS FFA chapter will be visiting The Uni-versity of Georgia’s Department of Agriculture Leadership, Education, and Communication on the way to the camp on Thursday, January 21st. Once we are done at UGA, we will stop for lunch, and then move on to the Discovery Conference in Covington.

***We will leave from the back of WJMS at 7:30AM on Thursday and drive to EJMS to pick up their FFA members before traveling to UGA and then the conference. The rally will conclude around 12:00PM on Friday. Students will return on Friday to return home like normal.

The cost to attend the Discovery Conference is $55 per person. That fee includes all conference material, tshirt, meals, lodging, and activi-ties at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center and must be paid before Tuesday, January 19th. Turn in a deposit of $25 (non-refundable) with the per-mission form ASAP!

Only the first 15 FFA Members to sign up with permission forms and $25 will be able to attend!

Upcoming CDEs

The following CDEs will take place in the spring, and we still have spots left! Please talk to Mrs. Davis ASAP if you would like to join one of the CDE teams!

Horse Judging

Jr. Prepared Public Speaking (need 1)

Jr. Ag Mechanics (need 4)

WJMS FFA Makes Plans to Attend Discovery Conference:

January 21st—22nd, 2016

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Nov & Dec Newsletter