Columbus FFA Alumni Dinner and Fundraiser set for March 7 – WiscNews

Agribusiness Dinner: March 17 – Tickets are still available! The Agribusiness dinner will be held again this year at Kestrel Ridge with a new comedian. See the event posted on the Columbus FFA Facebook page. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Columbus FFA Chapter.

Columbus FFA Banquet: March 31 – Columbus Pavilion; Mark your calendars for the Annual FFA Banquet. New Location to accommodate the growth in number of FFA members and family attendance! The dinner will be catered by Edith’s Cakes and Catering. We hope to see you there to help the FFA members celebrate the success of the members and the chapter. This is their night to shine in front of their family and the community!

Proficiency Applications: Six proficiency applications were submitted Feb. 24 by five Columbus FFA members. Amanda Dunbar completed two applications, one in Equine Placement and the other in Equine Entrepreneurship as they relate to her horse she leases and trains and her job working at a stable. Hannah Dahl submitted her application in Ag Sales for her SAE project working at Sassy Cow Creamery. Garret Baerwolf completed an application based on his work on the family farm in the area of Diversified Agriculture placement. Morgan Baerwolf completed an application for Dairy Goat Entrepreneur based on her goat SAE project and Faith Baerwolf applied in Sheep Entrepreneurship for her sheep project. These applications require a lot of written details and demonstration of the student’s growth in their SAE projects. It will be exciting to learn how they place at the Wisconsin FFA proficiency judging on March 6-7.

WLC Scholarship: Congratulations to Hannah Dahl! Hannah will receive a $450 scholarship to attend the Washington Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. this summer. Hannah was so excited to win this scholarship providing her with the opportunity to attend one of the most prestigious FFA leadership conferences. This is very special for Hannah as she is interested in Agricultural law and policy making so visiting our nation’s capital makes this conference even better!

SAE- The high school students participated in the Week 12 SAE lesson this week. The focus this week was on Agricultural Literacy. The students worked in small groups to develop a policy for the school and then create a list of steps and individuals they would have to meet with to put their policy into action. The students recognized that making policy is not a simple process and that it takes a lengthy amount of time going through the proper channels. The middle school students took a look at where in the world they could live and do their career they are planning to pursue for their future. The students began by listing local businesses they thought did international business. They were surprised to learn a number of Columbus businesses are international companies. The students then filled in a U.S. and World map showing where they could work in their future career.

Ag Careers and Leadership: The students focused on leadership this week. They worked in small groups to create a leadership activity that would help students develop their leadership skills. They participated in an activity with a beach ball to demonstrate team work, but to also show leadership. The class learned about Heifer International and how less fortunate people live all over the world and through their leadership they can make a difference if they apply themselves to help others. The class reviewed for their final exam and shared their SAE final projects with their peers.

Agricultural Food Science: The students finished their last week by participating in the Pizza Final Project. The students worked in small groups to create a new pizza and then developed a list of ingredients. The students actually made the pizza and everyone in class taste tested the six different pizzas and analyzed them for different characteristics. The groups also prepared a written document sharing the sweeteners, fats, preservatives, colors and flavors in the ingredients used in their pizza creations. This final project wrapped up all of the units the students studied in the trimester. The students also finished their flavor and color unit labs. The students participated in “The Nose Knows” lab where they smelled balloons labeled with the chemical name of flavors and they had to guess what flavor was in the balloon. They found it very difficult to tell. They also did a chromatography lab with Kool Aid and pulled out the colors on filter paper to see which of the seven approved food colors were used to make the Kool Aid red, blue, orange, or purple. The students really enjoyed this class and the hands-on labs they participated in learning about food science and the principles of chemistry used in food processing.

Food, Forests and Wildlife: The 6th grade students worked on Wild Cards this week. Each student selected a wildlife animal to research and then created a presentation to share with the class. On Monday the students were able to experience touching and feeling wildlife pelts, tracks and antlers. They really enjoyed learning about Wisconsin’s wildlife mammals. Some of the students brought in their own pelts, pictures and other wildlife keepsakes to share. During the week the students also learned about classification of animals and food chains and food webs. On Friday the students made a live Food Web! Each student received a picture of a wildlife organism and one student was the sun in the center of a circle. The students tossed a ball of yarn from one organism to another to create a food chain and they continued to do so until they had a pretty messy food web. They had a lot of fun get tangled in their web!

Pizza, Pets and Plants: The 7th grade students are turning into great gardeners and agronomists as they continue to take care of their seeds. Some of them have some pretty good shoots growing. The students shared their crop presentations with the class this week demonstrating the growing and harvesting of their crop. The students have watched videos of big farm equipment and learned how different crops are harvested in different ways. The class started its biotechnology unit this week by first learning the 5-F’s of biotech; Food, Fiber, Fuel, Feedstock and Pharmaceuticals. The students were fascinated by the video showcasing “Spider Goats” and how the spider web gene was put into dairy goats and the silk was being extracted from their milk. The spider silk is the strongest fiber in the world! The students then learned about Dr. Borlaug and how he has saved more people on earth than any other person. He has developed a special wheat to help feed hungry people in several countries around the globe.

Animals, Plants and Food Science: The 8th graders were able to taste their mozzarella cheese on Monday. They decided it was better with more salt added and melted on crackers. They spent the rest of the week learning about animal terminology, classification, Latin adjectives and livestock breeds. A majority of the students were happy for an opportunity to draw an image of a newly discovered creature that they were given a written description of but had not seen themselves. They also got to name the new species. The students are super excited to start researching one of the livestock breeds they learned about in class. They also practiced identifying the age and sex of the breeds pictured in the slideshow. They will continue to practice their terminology and classification throughout the animal science unit.