• Agriscience Pride

     Congratulations on a great showing to Faith Mrdutt and Julia Sanderson who exhibited recently at the AGR Preview Show in East Lansing. A portion of the funds raised through entry fees goes directly to Michigan Agribility, which helps those who have been severely injured or disabled in agriculture related accident. 
     
    JSanderson1  JSanderson2
    FMrdutt  FMrdutt
     
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    Three students participated in the District 3 FFA Leadership Contests in Breckenridge February 2. Students participated in mock interviews or presented a prepared speech. Madalyn Badgero (Coleman) and MacKenzie Bloom (Meridian) both received Silver Awards and Julia Sanderson (Dow High) placed first and received a Gold Award in the Job Interview Contest. She will be representing the Coleman Chapter and District 3 in the Regional Contest on February 15, at Delta College.
     
    The following students will receive the State FFA Degree at the Michigan FFA State Convention in March: Justin Boggs, Brandon Hoag, Burt Mann, and Makayla Ogg. The Michigan FFA State Degree is the highest degree a state can confer. In order to obtain this degree, these students had to complete a long list of qualifications including earning and productively investing at least $1,000 or worked at least 300 hours in excess of scheduled class time, have a satisfactory scholastic record as certified by the local agricultural education instructor and the principal or superintendent, and have participated in at least 25 hours of community service within at least two different community service activities. In addition to receiving their degree, these students will also receive 6 free credits to Michigan State University.
    Congratulations to all of the students!
     
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    Over the course of the past month, students have been preparing for the Michigan FFA Leadership Contests. For these contest, students chose to prepare a 6-8 minute speech on an agricultural related topic, create a resume and cover letter and prepare for a job interview, develop a demonstration/skit on an agricultural issue, or research numerous aspects of the agricultural industry and prepare to write a speech on a prompt given based on an agricultural topic. Students will then be able to compete against other FFA members, with hopes of making to the State Finals during Michigan FFA State Convention in March.

    The first round of competition will took place during class time on Tuesday, January 24. During this time, all of the Coleman Agriscience students competed against each other to determine who will be able to represent our chapter at the District Competition on Wednesday, February 1, at Breckenridge High School. With great honor, I am proud to say that the following students will be attending: In the Job Interview Contest,  Madelyn Badgero from Coleman and Julia Sanderson from Dow High. In the Public Speaking Contest, MacKenzie Bloom from Meridian and Annie Kidder from Dow High. 
     

    Makayla Ogg received a Bronze Award for her Beef Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award. She will be recognized at Michigan FFA State Convention in March. Congratulations to Makayla!

     

     

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     In Agri-Science, for the fourth year our students raised & sold 250 broiler chickens. The birds were smaller on average this year as the Michigan FFA dealt with a supply issue; instead of receiving males, many FFA chapters like ours received over 50% hens, which grow much slower than male broilers. Yet, overall our birds were over 1 pound heavier than the state of Michigan average. The Michigan FFA is working to solve this concern with the supplier of the chickens.
     
    The AgScience Kindergarten program which meets with Mrs. Zwemmer from the AgriScience program on Tuesdays is strong and progressing very well. The students have learned about pumpkins, chickens, grains, turkeys, reindeer & Christmas trees. The students have visited the Coleman Elevator, and after our holiday break they will travel to AgroLiquid to visit the Education IQHub. We are planning now for greenhouse activities including bees, maple syrup, and a potential visit to the Shepherd Sugar Bush facility. In the spring, we will conduct lessons with cattle & hogs in our barn!