Maryland FFA State Officer Journal

Thank You!

2010-07-03T11:11:00.003-04:00

Members,

This year has been one that has changed my life forever. Over this past year I was able to meet so many great people and make so many great memories. I have grown as a person and that was because of you guys. I cannot begin to thank you all enough for giving me such a great year. FFA members just remeber to keep creating your own journeys! Everyone stay in touch!

To the new officer team,s

You guys have the potential to be great and we all know you will be nothing but great!

Thank You for everything this year, it truly has been a pleasure to be apart of the MD FFA Family!!!

I Love you guys
Nikki

Create Your Own Journey

2010-06-30T23:35:00.002-04:00

Wow, How this year flew by so fast!! I wanted to say for my last blog thank you to all of the members, parents, my team, and advisors who my year so worth while. It was hard to see this year come to an end as this year was amazing. It gave me memories that will be in my heart and soul for a lifetime. Members remember you need to set your own path in your lifes and make it worth while just like mine has been this past year. Of course there are going to be twists, turns, detours and road blocks but that's the beauty of a journey. It's kind of like the movie Forrest Gump when he says " Momma always said life's like a box of chocolates you never know what your gonna get," This is true and one of my favorite sentences from my favorite movie! :) You could reach into a box of chocolates and get one with nuts or caramel, peanut butter or dark chocolate. just like our lives you don't ever know what's going to happen next. Just remember my RA "It's about how many lives you touched and what you give to others" You all have touched my life this past year and i wanted to thank you for allowing me to serve you as your 2009-2010 MD FFA Secretary. Good luck to the new state officer team! You guys are going to have an amazing year just like we did. There will be ups and downs but cherish the good times and memories that you make!
Much love to everyone
love always
Mandi

Almost Convention Time

2010-06-04T13:37:00.005-04:00

Well a year has come, and unfortunately is almost gone. I have done my last chapter visit, completed all leadership conferences, and tonight I am going to my very last FFA banquet as the 2009-2010 Maryland FFA President. It is truly hard to believe that convention is merely 25 days away.

At the beginning of May the other state officers and I got to take part in a Barn Restoration project sponsored by the Campbell's Soup Company and National FFA Alumni. It was amazing!! We got to meet the amazing and so so deserving Mackenzie family, and spent three days restoring two of the barns on the farm. Members, serving your community, or helping someone in need is one of the most rewarding things you can do. As it is stated in the last line of the FFA motto, we should all, in some part be "Living to Serve." If you are given the opportunity to help someone, do it, put their needs before your own, and see how you feel afterwards. I know I feel amazing when I help someone other than myself and I believe that is something we can all feel.

As my 27 days till my FFA retirement draw near I have been reflecting on my choices, our theme this year was "Create Your Own Journey", my choices took me on a journey, an wonderful and adventurous journey. My FFA journey may be coming to an end, but yours is just beginning. No matter if you are a first year Greenhand or receiving your State degree this year at convention, FFA has amazing opportunities for you to take part in. As I have been saying at banquets, I pray that all of you carry FFA memories in your heart, and lessons in your soul. Lord knows I will never forget what he has blessed me with in FFA.

LoveLoveLove

Alli

Spring Time!

2010-04-28T23:47:00.002-04:00

Well it has definitely been a long time since I last updated everyone on happenings around the state. Since I last posted something I have survived the HUGE snow storm of 2010, although I was trapped in Frostburg for quite some time.

Spring time is here and I am very excited, this is my favorite time of year, but it also means that State Officer year is almost up :( But State Convention is right around the corner!!! Spring Judging took place April 13th at University of Maryland College Park, everyone did a great job and I know the other officers and I had a fabulous time.

Nikki, Tyler and I got the opportunity to help at Maryland Ag Day at the University on April 24th, we helped the Alpha Zeta Ag Fraternity scoop ice cream for a few hours. It was a lot of fun, and very sticky. Oh and the ice cream was quite yummy too.

Banquet season got kicked off this week with Easton's banquet being the first one of the year, I get to go and speak at my first banquet on Friday, April 30th at Northern Garrett. I am very excited and working on memorizing my speech. I really want to make it clear how entirely grateful I am for this amazing experience. Being able to serve as a state officer was never something I thought I would be doing a few years ago, but man am I glad I did. This year I have traveled all around Maryland; Washington DC; Springfield, MA; Indianapolis, IN; clear to Pasadena, CA!

I have had an amazing year, and gained 5 sisters in the process. The girls on the officer team have become my best friends and I wouldn't trade any of them. They each have their own quirks and strengths, and they are hard not to love. I would recommend every member to run for a state office if they have the opportunity, you will definitely not be sorry.

I promise to report back soon!!!

LoveLoveLove,
Alli :)

Hey Everyone!!!

2010-03-01T10:01:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!!!!!!
I hope everyone is doing great, even though the snow has set us back in all of our activities and school schedules. Im sure everyone is getting sick of the snow i know i am.
I hope all of you are enjoyed national FFA Week. I had a blast at the dance that Middletown and Catoctin FFA chapters put on. You all did a great job!!!!!
Tyler and I attended Walkersville FFA Chapter this past thursday for a chapter visit. It was a exciting to go back to my home chapter and see all what the members were accomplishing. Linganore FFA members I will be seeing you on March 17th.
I hope all you members are studying hard for the local speaking contests and for Spring judging which is coming up soon!!!!
I hope I see you there!!!!
Mandi

Hey Everyone !

2009-11-28T14:46:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a safe and filling holiday!! I know i did after all the turkey!! Now that leaderships are over we hope that everyone will make sure that their chapter fills out an officer visit form so we can come see you guys.
Spring Judging is right around the corner. I hope that everyone is studying and getting prepared. I am really excited to see everyone again at College Park and hopefully we will be seeing alot of you guys sooner then that!

With Love,
Nikki Swann
09-10 Vice President

have a good holiday!

2009-11-24T09:55:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!
I hope everybody has a good thanksgiving! We have been busy going to many chapter visits! I just was recently at frederick's FFa chapter, Hartford tech, and North Carroll. Thank you for letting me come to your chapter and get to know all of you. Many more chapter visits are coming up such as Queen Anne's, Clear Spring, Catoctin, Linganore, and Middletown. We would like see all of the chapters this year so get those chapter visit request forms in! I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving eat lots of turkey, and watch a lot of football!
See everyone soon!
Mandi

National FFA Convention!

2009-10-26T14:17:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone!
I hope everyone had a blast at national FFA Convention! I know I did. I just want to say congratulations to all the individuals and teams who competed in Career Development Events. You all should be very proud of getting to that level, your hard work and dedication paid off. Members remember to thank your parents and advisors for all that they do for you. They gave you the opportunity to attend such an amazing event that could have changed some of your life. Those of you who did not attend this year, I strongly encourage you to compete in a CDE, fill out a proficiency application, try get your chapter involved in the national chapter award, or if you have musical talent take advantage of it. To all the American FFA Degree Recipients, congratulations its a true honor, and achievement to receive the highest degree.
The FFA Officers and I had a great time getting to know all of you and experience your achievements this past week. We all hope you met some new members around the nation, walked through the career show, did a little shopping, and watch one of the amazing sessions.
I hope you had a great time! If you need anything let me know. Region 2 and Region 4 see you and a couple of week for Regional Leadership Conference!
God Bless!
Mandi

Nationals!

2009-10-16T11:38:00.002-04:00

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is staying warm because it is definitely getting pretty chilly outside. I am really excited to see everyone at national convention next week! I hope that everyone has been studying and preparing for their competitions. Allison,Tyler and myself fly into nationals on Monday. We are participating in the delegate process. While your at nationals make sure you visit the career show and check out all the booths.
Today land judging took place in Washington county. I wish i could of been there to watch you guys compete but i had to go to a farm bureau meeting in Charles county. I hope that everyone had fun and didn't freeze while you were out there!
As we wrapped up our second regional leadership conference we are excited to come see the other regions. We had a lot of fun with the first two leadership conferences, so make sure you come to your conference.
Also don't forget about asking your advisor to request a chapter visit. Our goal is to come to each chapter so we can get involved with everyone!

Love Always,
Nikki Swann
State Vice President

2009-09-28T16:53:00.003-04:00

Hey Everyone!!!

WOW! This year is off to a great start. A lot has happened since I last posted anything. I want to start off by saying how excited I am for this year and what a great time I have been having with all the members and opportunities that have been given to me and the officer team.

Congratulations to everyone who went to Big E in Springfield, Mass., from Sept. 17-19. You all did a great job and I am so proud of all of you! You represented the state of Maryland wonderfully. While we were up there Nikki, Katie, and I got to carry flags in the Stars Ceremony and the parade around the fair grounds. This was an amazing experience, even if Katie and I thought our feet might fall off. We also got to spend time with the National FFA Eastern Region Vice-President, Hannah Crossen.

After we got back from Big E, we got to attend the Greenhand Ceremony at the Great Frederick Fair. Another Congratulations to all those new members who received their Greenhand Degrees, you are all very valuable assets of the Maryland FFA Association. I hope that you can use your knowledge and love of FFA to continually support Agriculture.

What's next for us? Well, this Friday, October 2,2009, we will be holding the Region 5 Leadership Conference. I hope everyone from Region 5 is able to come and have a great time.

Then we better see everyone at my home region, Region 1 Leadership on October 5th, at Frostburg State University!

Until then....

Allison Moore
State President

2009-09-28T14:27:00.002-04:00

hey everyone!
Just wanted to stop in and say congratulations to the members who participated at Big E!! You guys did an amazing job and I hope you had fun! Also congratulations to the 1st year members of Frederick County who received their Green Hand FFA Degree, make sure you stay active and all your hard work will be worth while! I hope everyone is excited for fall leaderships as all of us officers have been working hard to make sure you learn a lot and to have fun! I cant wait to see everyone there. I'm very excited for National FFA Convention! I know you all are excited as well. To all those students who are participating in a national contest good luck to all and i know you will represent Maryland well! I hope everyone is doing well in school and I cant wait to see everyone in Region 5 on Friday Oct 2Nd everyone in Region 1!
See you soon!
Mandi

Hey Guys!!!

2009-09-21T14:58:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone!!!

A lot has been going on with MD FFA since I last posted. On 7/19 some of the team attended the 250th anniversary of Baltimore County held at Richardson Farms, sponsored by Hunt Valley Business Forum. There were several speakers from around the Baltimore County community including a county executive, a county council chair, a representative from the MD Department of Agriculture, a local produce grower, and a representative from the MD Wineries Association. Some of the other guests in attendance were George Mayo with MD Agricultural Education Foundation and the Hereford FFA chapter. Throughout the day we discussed the past, present, and future of agriculture in Baltimore County and celebrated how far this county has come.

The state tractor driving contest was held at the MD state fair grounds on 7/26, and the Dairy and Poultry Judging contests were on 8/5. Congratulations to all who placed!

Nikki and I attended Hereford High School on Tuesday, 8/8 for our first chapter visit! Throughout the day we did several team building activities and spoke with both members and non-members about FFA opportunities. Everyone was very welcoming and it was an awesome experience visiting the Hereford Chapter!

On 8/9 some of the team attended Brunswick High School to visit with the Middletown, Brunswick, and Boonsboro chapters. Mandi and Tyler attend North Carroll High School for a chapter visit.

The state officer team and I just got back from Springfield, Massachusetts where we and about 55 members from MD attended the BigE, which is the Eastern States Exposition. The members competed in various CDE's and got to experience the huge fair! Nikki, Mandi, Allison, and I got the chance to carry flags in the parade which was awesome =) Good work to everyone who made it to BigE and everyone who placed!!!

On Sunday, 8/20, the state officer team and I attended the 2009 Frederick County Greenhand Ceremony where 92 members received their Greenhand Degrees! Way to go guys!!! =)

So far this year has been amazing! The state officers and I are so proud of all the members that continue to reach for their goals and be active within their chapters! Seeing you guys excited and succeeding is what makes my year of service worth the while! Keep it up guys!

Katie Wheatley
2009-2010 State Sentinel

P.S. - Don't forget to schedule chapter visits!!!

School Started and Summer is gone

2009-08-24T11:48:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone!

Summer is coming to a close and school is started up for some of you, it has for me too! I look forward to seeing at fall events such as Land Judging, chapter visits, fall leadership conferences, Big E and National FFA Convention! I hope your excited just as much as I am. I hope you all are doing well and have a good school year!
See ya!
Mandi Ramsburg
MD FFA Secretary

NLCSO

2009-08-13T17:01:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! The state officers and I just had the opportunity to spend three days in Gettysburg, PA at the National Leadership Conference for State Officers where the theme for this year was "Going Live." We got the chance to meet the state officers from PA, DE, NJ, WV, VA, and we were also able to meet two of our national officers, Regina Holiday and Riley Branch. Regina and Riley spent the 3 days facilitating workshops to help prepare us for our year of service. The national officers helped us to develop our leadership abilties and taught us numerous things that will be extremely helpful for this year.

PS- Just a reminder that Livestock Judging and Dairy handling will be held on 8/15/09 at the MD state fair grounds and Tractor Driving will be 8/26/09 at the MD state fair grounds.

Katie Wheatley
2009-2010 State Sentinel

State President's Conference and Joint Training

2009-08-03T12:44:00.004-04:00

Hey Hey FFA memebers! Summer is drawing to an end, which seems sad, except... You get to see me and the other state officers soon! We are so excited to get this year started, we have had a lot of training and we are working on workshops for fall leadership and chapter visits.

Most recently we had our Joint Officer Training with other Career and Technical Student Organizations(CTSO). We met with the state officers of FBLA, DECA, HOSA, and SkillsUSA; this was different for us because the other state officer are all High School students.

The week before Joint Training Nikki and I spent a week in Washington, DC! It was AMAZING! We were at the FFA State President's Conference and got to hang out with the President and Vice-President or Secretary from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Everyone is super nice and we made some great friends. The National officers: Regina, Hannah, Laila, Nessie, Riley, and Paul, were there too and gave us some tips for the year. They are wonderful people and I hope you all get a chance to meet them. We also started our National delegate work that we will continue on with at National Convention in October. See you soon!

love.love.love

Allison Moore
State President

CTSO Training, Horse Judging

2009-08-01T00:04:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! As Mandi was saying, we have just completed our second training as the new officer team. We have been hard at work planning workshops and events for the year to come, we can't wait for you to see what we have in store for you!

The Horse Judging CDE was this past Wednesday in which Nikki and I attended. I was able to meet part of the new NJ state officer team who traveled quite a distance to be there, they are all wonderful! We were all very happy to see all the dedicated members competing and giving 110%! Hope to see more of you all this summer!

PS- The slide show from forestry and environmental should be posted soon, and we are also working on a slide show from horse judging =)

Katie Wheatley
Maryland State Sentinel

Joint Training

2009-07-29T14:32:00.001-04:00

Hey FFA Members! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! It's been busy for other state officers and I. We just got back from Timonium MD at our Joint Conference! We met other students from different organizations such as FBLA, HOSA, DECA, and SkillsUSA. These organizations are a Career and Technology Student Organization just like the FFA. It was really cool how these other organizations in our school systems relate to the FFA. During this conference we worked on planning The Regional Fall Leadership Workshops! I hope you guys are excited just as much as we are! We have a lot of fun stuff planned for you! I hope everyone is having a great summer even though its slowly coming to an end for all of us. See you guys at State Fair!!!!

Mandi Ramsburg

Maryland State FFA Secretary

Forestry and Enviromental and Natural Resources CDE

2009-07-19T12:36:00.002-04:00

Katie and I attended the Forestry and Environmental and Natural Resources CDES at Allegany College in Western MD. For Katie it was a whole new world as she finally witnessed mountains and steep land. We took pictures of students participating in the contest during the day. While it was fun day it was a hard job walking up a mountain with heels and tights. Congratulations to all the teams that participated during this contest. Fort Hill won the Environmental and Natural Resource contest and Clear spring won the forestry contest! The Maryland FFA will be proudly represented at the National Contest in Indianapolis. Boonsboro placed 2nd at ENR contest and Fort hill at Forestry and Maryland will be represented well at the Eastern National in Mass. We were very proud of everyone and I look forward to seeing everybody in the future at many other contests,conferences, chapter visits and more!

Kids on Campus

2009-07-16T18:10:00.002-04:00

Excitement, laughter, and baby animals! That's what filled the classroom yesterday as Mandi and I attended the Kids on Campus program in Frederick. This is a summer program where the children get to do many hand on projects that relate to agriculture, such as making butter. Yesterday Mandi and myself took in two different types of dairy animals, a milking goat and a baby dairy calf, for the children to milk and get a hands on experience with :). Growing up around animals I guess I sometimes take it foregranted, but these kids made me realize that just petting a baby cow for the first time and having it lick your fingers is a abnormal event for a lot of people. Even though we went to teach the children about animals and the dairy industry they in turn taught me a lesson, that even though I have been around farming and animals all my life teaching and bringing the joy of agriculture to others is an amazing feeling and it is what will help this wonderful industry grow and blossom.

I hope that this year I can bring to you what I learned and get you guys as excited about FFA and agriculture as the kids were yesterday!
Have a wonderful and safe summer.

Tyler Yoak
2009-2010 Maryland State FFA Reporter

BLAST Off

2009-07-12T22:04:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! i hope everyone is having a fun summer. As everyone knows we just got from BLAST Off and it was definitely a learning experience.

The other officers and I are very excited to be working with you guys in this upcoming year. We have a lot of big plans and we can't wait to start our year off. If anyone has any ideas for us please let the me or the girls know.

Good luck to everyone who is participating in the Forestry CDE this week, can't wait to see everyone there.

Love,
Nikki Swann
2009-2010 State Vice President

BLAST Off

2009-07-12T21:23:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone! I hope your summer is going well, I know mine is. I have been keeping quite busy since State Convention in June. The other officers and I have been hopping from conference to conference preparing for the year. Most recently we have just gotten back from BLAST Off preparing ourselves for what our year as officers will require from us.

We have big plans for the year and I can tell you that all of us are SUPER excited to get out there and meet all of you! Our schedules are pretty packed from now till, oh, about next year :)

We will be seeing everyone soon enough, and don't forget that if you need anything, anything at all let us know and we will be glad to help.

Allison Moore
2009-2010 Maryland FFA President

Prayers Needed

2009-07-12T18:23:00.001-04:00

Every now and again accidents happen in the farming community. We here in Easton recently had that occur. Our past senior adviser Wade Sharp Saturday morning fell out of the back of a moving truck when hauling pallets from one farm to another. He currently is being held in the ICU center in the University of Maryland Shock Trauma. We as a FFA family are asking to help keep him and his family in our hearts and prayers as he goes through a trying time. I'll keep you updated as much as I can but remember as a organization we must stick together even when times get rough. If you would like to visit the Caring Bridge address is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wadesharp/journal to find out more. Thank You.

Courtney Willoughby
2009-2010 Maryland State FFA Treasurer.

BLAST Off

2009-07-12T18:07:00.003-04:00

Hey Everyone!!! I'm excited to say the new officer team and I have just completed our first training. We are all really excited for this year and are keeping very busy planning for the year to come. This coming Tuesday we will be at Frederick Community College to do a couple demonstrations for the youth on animal science. I will keep you posted on how it goes. =)

KatieWheatley
2009-2010 Maryland State Sentinel

Blast off

2009-07-09T12:48:00.002-04:00

My beginning started with the Colt Conference and now the other officers and I are at BLAST Off training learning about things that will prepare us for the upcoming year so that it will be fun and successful. We have been discussing things to help us become great leaders for you and so your year will be filled with excitement and new experiences. We hope that this year will be fun for you as it is for us! We will be doing teaching students about animal science, and biotechnology in Frederick County at the Kids on Campus. Then i will be heading to the Forestry Career Development Event so we will see all the participants there and Good Luck. See you during the year! We are all excited!

Walkersville FFA Chapter

2009-03-02T09:55:00.003-05:00

This past Friday, Richard and I visited the Walkersville FFA Chapter. We really had a great time and saw that the students really enjoyed themselves! The students seems to be very involved in all the activities. We focused our workshops on FFA Knowledge and leadership/teamwork...we incorporated many games and had a lot of fun!

We would like to congratulate the Walkersville FFA Ag Mechanic Team who placed 1st in the Region 2 competition on Thursday night. They will be moving on and competing at Spring Judging at UMD. In addition, congratulations to those who participated in the Extemporaneous Speech contest (also Thursday night) and will be advancing to States in June.

~BRITTANY~
md state treasurer