august ffa newsletter
DESCRIPTION
MCHS August FFA NewsletterTRANSCRIPT
caption), Ebony Carter, Jade An-
drews, Zack Tankersley, Kevin
Jones, Morgan Tolbert, Savannah
Roberts (girls team caption),
Brianna Roberts, Garrett
Whitworth (boys team caption),
Trey Cleveland, Kate Russam, &
Austin Bradley. Students attending
from the Freshman Academy FFA
included: Austin Saye, Megan Bos-well, Wes Daniel, Jaime Feagan,
Kim Cooper, Bryse Towns (girls
team caption), Amber Wilbanks
(voted team member of the week)
& Leah Smith. ―Summer Leader-
ship Camp is about teaching stu-
dents various tools of success
while they have the time of their
life. The teachers and staff invest
so much time to make sure these
youth have an experience that
they will never forget,‖ says Todd
Teasley, Camp Director. The
Georgia FFA/FCCLA Center is
located near Covington, on the
banks of Lake Jackson. Madison
County Freshman Academy FFA
member Amber Wilbanks said, ―I
loved FFA camp, everyone should
come and experience it!‖
COVINGTON, GA – Students
from the Madison County FFA
chapters were part of more than
2000 students who attended the
FFA/FCCLA Summer Leadership
Camp 2011 at the Georgia FFA/
FCCLA Center. Madison County
FFA Chapters had almost 50 stu-
dents in attendance at the week
long summer camp. The theme for Summer Leadership Camp 2011
was ―Living Unconfined‖ The fo-
cus of the week was allowing each
student the opportunity to be part
of a team, developing teambuilding
and leadership skills while having
fun. Campers took part in a vari-
ety of activities including volleyball,
softball, canoe races, a swim meet,
a fishing tournament, skeet and
archery shooting, talent show, low
ropes course, and much more. On
the last night of camp, students
participated in a muddy obstacle
course to test the leadership and
team-working skills they had been
taught through the week. At the
end of the week one girl’s team
and one boy’s team will be named
Leadership Team of the Week
Champions and our Madison girls
& boys were named just that, for
their teamwork and participation
throughout the week. This honor
is voted on by the camp staff,
other agriculture and family and
consumer science teachers. The
Madison County boy’s team were
also awarded Team of the Week
Runners Up. The MCHS FFA
members that attended the sum-
mer camp included: Taylor, Jesse
Chitwood, Jesse Wade (boys team
Students Named Summer Camp’s BEST Leaders
Getting Involved in the Community
09/05/11
Volume 3, Issue 1
MCHS FFA
August Newsletter
Important Dates to
Remember:
Young Farmer Meeting -
August 11th - 7pm
Livestock Show Team
Meeting - August 18th -
6:30pm
After School FFA Meet-
ing - WATER WARS -
August 25th - 4 - 6 pm
GA Young Farmer’s Cat-
tle and Goat Show -
August 26th - 27th
Local Tractor Driving
Contest - August 30th
Last Day to Join FFA -
October 6th
Inside this issue:
FFA Members Travel 2
Chapter Officer Lead- 2
Students attend NRCS 3
New Ag Teacher— 3
Student Spotlight— 4
Above are the MCHS FFA mem-
bers that attended the Summer Leadership Conference whom were named Leadership Team of
the week.
Has anyone noticed anything new about the Madison County Farm Bureau Office? Because the Madi-
son County Farm Bureau is such a large continuous supporter of the Madison County FFA Organiza-
tion the Madison County FFA High School FFA Officer Teams banded together to plant flowers for
them in their flower bed out front by the road underneath the Farm Bureau sign. The 15 FFA Officer
Team members worked very hard on the morning of July 6th from 8 a.m. to about 12 p.m., to plant a
verity of plants that will hopfully last for the rest of the summer and fall for the not just the Farm Bu-
reau Office staff and board members but for the Farm Bureau Members as well. The pattern design for
the flowers was instructed by one of the High School Agriculture teachers Mrs. Trisha Lastly. She used
the most beautiful flowers from the Madison County High School greenhouse. The FFA Officer Team
is very pleased of their hard work and are currently looking to undergo more community beautifica-
tion projects just like this one. If you know of something in the community that needs repairing,
planting, cleaning or know of someone how needs their yard cleaned/maintained please contact
one of the high school agriculture teachers or current FFA Officers.
Join FFA
TODAY!!!
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Garrett
Whitworth, Olivia Minish, Bryse
Towns, Jade Andrews and Austin
Saye of the Madison County FFA
Chapter recently attended the 2011
Washington Leadership Conference
(WLC) for a week during the month
of June our nation’s capitol. The
conference is an activity of the Na-
tional FFA Organization in coopera-
tion with the U.S. Department of
Education and Agriculture. Located
in our nation’s capitol, the Washing-
ton Leadership Conference is a five-
day event that trains FFA members
to make a positive impact in their
school, local community, state and
country. The conference focuses on
the following areas: - Problem Solv-
ing - Relationship Building - Living
with Character Developing an Atti-
tude for serving Others. The cap-
stone event of the Washington
Leadership Conference is a civic
engagement activity, which takes
leadership and service learning to
new standards. Partnered with Mid
Atlantic Gleaning Network, partici-
pants glean food for Washing ton
area food banks and shelters. In the
past two years, WLC participants
have dedicated over 23,000 hours of
service to the Washington, D.C.
area. MCHS Agriculture teacher
whom attended the conference with
the students, Trisha Lastly, stated,
―Each student from the Madison
County FFA Chapter was involved in
a different community service activ-
ity which ranged from cleaning a
women’s clinic to planting flowers at
a civic center in down town D.C.
The student learn so much from
their experience in D.C., every
member should attend before leav-
ing high school!‖The National FFA
Organization coordinates WLC,
which attracts participants from
across the country. This summer
more than 2,300 FFA members will
attend one of the seven weeklong
sessions. Students also increase
their understanding of the nation’s
heritage with visits to Mount
Vernon, Arlington National Ceme-
tery, the Jefferson, Lincoln and
Roosevelt Memorials, and other
historic sights in Washington, D.C.
When asked what part of the con-
ference was the best Garrett
Whitworth said, ―I really enjoyed
the poverty dinner. It taught me
that not everyone has basic needs
like food and that we as FFA mem-
bers should help others through
service.‖
Students Learn Leadership Skills through Service in D.C.
COLT Conference - Officers Prepare for the 11 - 12 Year
fundraising. The Madison County
High School officers were encour-
aged to make an impact by living
as a role model, motivating others
to serve, promoting the FFA or-
ganization in a classy way and
leaving a legacy.
―COLT conference is an excellent
way for chapter officers to kick-off
their year of service,‖ says State
FFA President, Ben Bennett. ―We
challenge these officers to work
together and empower the other
members of their chapter.‖
The officers from the Madison
County High School FFA Chapter
who attended the COLT confer-
ence were: Back Row – Gabrielle
Gantley – Freshman Vice Presi-
dent, Olivia Minish – Senior Re-
porter, Zack Tankersley – Student
Advisor, Garrett Whitworth –
Senior Vice President, Josh Huff –
Freshman Treasurer, Jordan
Collins – Chaplin, Bailey Seabolt –
Freshman Reporter. Front Row – Makayla Kellum – Freshman Sec-
retary, Shelby Smith – Senior Sec-
retary, Levi Simmons – Freshman
Sentinel, Kevin Jones – Senior
President, Travis Tankerlsey –
Freshman President and Megan
Boswell – Senior Treasurer.
The officers of the Madison
County High School FFA Chapter
were part of more than 200 chap-
ter officers representing twenty-
one FFA chapters from across
Georgia that attended the 2011
Chapter Officer Leadership Train-
ing.
The COLT Conference was held
July 19-21, at the Georgia FFA/
FCCLA Center near Covington,
GA. This year’s
COLT theme was
―X-treme Impact.‖
Each officer team
attended work-
shops that focused
on building team-
work and commu-
nication, displaying
professionalism,
and planning their
chapter’s Program
of Activities for
the coming year.
Students also
learned about
creativity and inno-
vation, conducting
successful chapter
meetings, and their specific offi-
cer responsibilities. The officers
were encouraged to set goals
and gained a variety of ideas for
recruitment, public relations, and
“[Our Chapter] isn’t
going to do the same
things as we have
always done. This year
is the year of change!”
- Garrett Whitworth,
MCHS Vice President
Page 2 MCHS FFA
Above are Trisha Lastly, Bryse Towns, Olivia Minish, Jade
Andrews, GarrettWhitworth & Austin Saye in front of our Nation's Capitol.
Back Row – Gabrielle Gantley – Freshman Vice
President, Olivia Minish – Senior Reporter, Zack
Tankersley – Student Advisor, Garrett Whitworth
– Senior Vice President, Josh Huff – Freshman
Treasurer, Jordan Collins – Chaplin, Bailey Seabolt
– Freshman Reporter. Front Row – Makayla
Kellum – Freshman Secretary, Shelby Smith –
Senior Secretary, Levi Simmons – Freshman
Sentinel, Kevin Jones – Senior President, Travis
Tankerlsey – Freshman President and Megan
Boswell – Senior Treasurer.
During the month of June
four Madison County High
School FFA Members at-
tended the Natural Re-
sources Conservation
Workshop held in Tifton,
GA on the ABAC College
Campus. These students
learned about wildlife, for-
estry and natural re-
sources through hands-on
labs and test their knowl-
edge through a quiz given
at the end of the week.
The tuition of most stu-
dents was sponsored by
local businesses and or-
ganizations through the
local Soil and Water Con-
servation Districts. Jessica
Baxter, Jesse Wade, Sa-
vannah Roberts and Trey
Cleveland, MCHS FFA
Members, attended this
year’s Workshop and was/
were sponsored by Broad
River, Madison County
Farm Bureau and Young
Farmers through the
Broad River, Soil and Wa-
ter Conservation District.
Local Soil and Water Con-
servation District Supervi-
sors in Madison County is
George Smith.
NRCS Summer Workshop
Natural Resources CDE team
and won 2nd place in state on the
forestry and land judging teams.
He also did a proficiency in the
area of beef production and
showed shorthorn heifers as his
Supervised Agriculture Experi-
ence project. After high school
Mr. White attended Abraham
Baldwin Agricultural College
(ABAC) and then transferred to
UGA of Tifton. He also served
our country through his service
in the Marines. He now has two
children a 2 ½ year old daughter
named Chloe Belle and an 8
month old son named Jason. Mr.
Josh White has several goals this
year for FFA and the classroom.
A few of his goals for his class-
room is to keep the shop clean
and well kept, to train students
with practical skills that can be
applied to everyday life. A goal
for FFA is to have 1 state winner
every year in the Career Devel-
opment Events (CDEs) that he
will be teaching; these consist of
Agricultural Mechanics, EMC
Wiring, Woodworking, Wildlife,
Forestry, Land Judging, Poultry
Evaluation, and Agricultural
Communications. Another goal
that Mr. White has is for Super-
vised Agricultural Experiences,
and is that every student will
have one because they allow
students to apply the practical
skills learned in class to the
real world. Mr. White would
like to say to the students that
will be taking his classes ―that
since it is a new year there are
new opportunities and new
challenges so be prepared.‖ He
would like to tell people in the
community that he is looking
forward to meeting them and
getting to know them. He also
wants to say thank you for the
support already shown to him in
the past month.
Mr. Joshua White is the new
agriculture mechanics teacher
and FFA Advisor at Madison
County High School. He moved
to MCHS from Adkinson County
High School down in South
Georgia. He moved to Madison
County to be closer to his family
and he really enjoys the location
and he feels that the county bet-
ter suits him. Mr. White also
loves the participation that Madi-
son County has in their FFA
chapter and the support from the
community. Also when asked
why he wanted to come to Madi-
son County he said, ―This is a
school system I could see myself
raising my kids in.‖ Mr. White
grew up in Lee County but
graduated from Oconee County
High School. During his high
school career he was active in
FFA his junior and senior years.
During those 2 years he was on
the state winning Environmental
“...since it is a new
year there are new
opportunities and new
challenges so be
prepared.”
- Mr. Joshua White
Page 3
Above Mr. White work-
ing to clean and prepare
for the upcoming school
year!
New Kid on the Block
Volume 3 , Is sue 1
Jessica Baxter receives a $1000 scholarship
sponsored by the Natural Resources Con-
servation. Jessica was one of four students
that attended the summer workshop.
600 Madison Street
Danielsville, GA 30633
Phone: 706795-2110
Josh White -
Trisha Lastly
Kay Farmer
Cindy Jones
Please Contact ANY of the
Agriculture Teachers with questions!
FFA’s mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by de-
veloping their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career
success through agricultural education.
Madison County High
School FFA
Organization
through the FFA. FFA is really im-
portant to Olivia and became more
important to her as she became
more involved and served as an
officer. While being a FFA officer,
one of the requirements is to com-
plete at least two Career Develop-
ment Events, the CDE’s that Olivia
competed in land judging and live-
stock judging. Her favorite CDE
was Land Judging because he likes
to play in the dirt, she liked learning
a new skill. During this school year
Minish truly found her niche in the
FFA. ―I never knew I would like the
FFA until I got involved,‖ said Olivia
when asked how do you like being
in the FFA. In the long list of ac-
complishments Minish shared, she
won the award for being the best
reporter in the state, was named
the Star Greenhand member from
the Madison County Freshman
Academy, as well as placing in the
Olivia Minish was the Freshman
Academy FFA Reporter, and today
she is the reporter again for the
Madison County High School FFA
Chapter for the 2011 – 2012
School Year. As reporter again she
has many ideas and goals. One of
her ideas is to make an M.C.H.S
FFA news letter and to encourage
all high school students to join FFA
and find something that they are
interested in and get involved.
Among all the goals she has she
shared her most important one is
that she wants to win state with her
goats. Olivia Minish was one of only
two ninth grade students to raise
and show meat goats last year. In
her first year of showing Olivia
placed anywhere from first to last
in the show arena but she wants to
reach her goal of first place at the
State Show in October. Minsh loves
to meet new people, especially
state for livestock judging contest.
Before being an FFA Officer Minish
was very shy, but she learned to lose
her shyness by just being herself and
finding her passion for agriculture
and leadership. She also learned to
lead others through the FFA Organi-
zation throughout the school year as
she went to many retreats, confer-
ence and conventions. This past year
Olivia Minish took the Freshman
Basic Agriculture Class and while in
the class she experienced agriculture
first hand. Through her experience in
the class and in the FFA Olivia Minish
has decision to further her education
and become an agriculture teacher.
She would like to attend a college
and become an agriculture teacher
and FFA advisor and help student
achieve their goals.
- Written By Freshman Reporter -
Bailey Seabolt
Student Spotlight - Olivia Minish
FFA Mission Statement
Above Olivia Minish signs a
signatures page during an activ-
ity at the National FFA Conven-
tion held during the month of
October in INDY!
Check out our FFA
Chapter on
Facebook!!!