The Bowling Green FFA chapter kicked off the year with the Sept. 23 tailgate, which raised $700 for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Toledo. The night consisted of a dunk tank with Bowling Green City Schools teachers and staff. There was an obstacle course, slide, bounce house and free food by Belleville Meat Market.

The officer team started off the school year organizing FFA Families. Families create stronger bonds among the FFA members, as well as encourage underclassmen to feel comfortable getting more involved. These families will also help to facilitate healthy competition.

Members volunteered at Ag Venture, a self-driving farm tour. Also, 14 members helped with parking and pumpkin painting at Buckeye Seafood Company LLC on Sept. 17. Members educated the public about agriculture. Members also volunteered at the children’s tent at the farmers market.

The first Career Development Event of the year was soil judging. The chapter took 11 members to District Ag and Urban Soil Judging in Defiance County. Members included Eddie Eschedor, Emma Ferguson, Audrina Layfield, Addie Naus, Easton Schick, Hunter Sockman, Cole Brokaw, Madison Carrillo, Drew Thomas, Ethan Helvoigt, Audrey Geyman and Kaylee Bishop. The Ag team placed seventh in the district and the Urban team placed 12th. Eschedor placed fourth in the district and qualified for the State Soil Judging contest where he placed 28th.

The officer team also held a Greenhand Welcome Day for first-year members.

September ended with the induction of the Greenhand members into the National FFA Organization and open house. BG FFA welcomed 66 new members.

The Chapter degree ceremony was held in October at Elmwood High School; 27 members received degrees. This is the second highest degree a member can earn and the highest degree given by the local chapter. The degrees were presented by President Eddie Eschedor and Adviser Stephanie Conway.

On Oct. 7, the annual fruit and nut sale started. The sale is the only fundraiser the chapter does to raise money.

Members learned about future career opportunities by attending the manufacturing fair at the middle school and hosting an admissions representative from OSU ATI.

The officer team hosted a Halloween-themed meeting. Members played games such as pumpkin bowling, and held a pumpkin pie eating contest and a mummy wrap where each team had to wrap their volunteer as a farm animal.

Grace O’Connell, Addie Naus, Delanie Jarvi, Madison Carrillo and Peyton Bosworth participated in the county level job interview CDE. The interview contest consists of a member developing a cover letter and resume, filling out a job application, participating in a mock job interview and writing a follow-up letter. O’Connell placed fifth in Division 1; Naus placed third and Jarvi placed fourth in Division 2; and Bosworth placed fourth and Carrillo placed fourth in Division 4.

The members of the Animal and Plant Science Class wrapped up their poultry nutrition project by taking their chickens to a local processing plant to be harvested. They learned how to cut up a whole chicken into its retail parts.

Also in October, 12 members were selected to travel to Indianapolis to attend the 95th annual National FFA Convention and Expo. The members were seniors Eddie Eschedor, Ethan Helvoigt, Hunter Sockman, Emma Ferguson, Peyton Bosworth, Lindsay Eisel, Kenzie Spangenberg, Laney Crawford and Madison Carrillo, as well as junior Drew Thomas and sophomores Addie Naus and Averie Crawford. BG FFA traveled to the event with Oak Harbor FFA and Otsego FFA.

At the opening session, members were treated to a FFA chorus and band performance, reflections from national FFA officers, introduction of the states, and keynote speaker Tamika Catchings. The night ended with attending the Worlds Toughest Rodeo at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

President Eddie Eschedor and Vice President Emma Ferguson had the honor to walk across the stage to receive the 3-Star Chapter award for BG FFA. This is the highest rating a chapter can receive.

Convention ended with the American FFA Degree Session. The BG FFA American FFA Degree recipient for 2022 was Konnaly Kale. The American FFA Degree is the highest degree a FFA member can achieve and over 4,000 American FFA Degrees were handed out.

The Food Science team of Eddie Eschedor, Hunter Sockman, Averie Crawfod, Addie Naus, Madison Carrillo and Aiden Meyer placed third in the district. The Food Science contest required members to complete a series of practicums such as food sensory evaluation and food analysis, as well as complete a group food product development project.

In November, BG FFA attended a State FFA Leadership Night at Elmwood High School. Approximately 150 members from 10 different schools participated.

The chapter supports the Dear Santa Society. Senior members of the officer team shopped for gifts for a family. Extra fruit from the fundraiser was delivered to the families. The freshman classes put together candy cane reindeer which were delivered to three local nursing homes. FFA members collected over 120 rolls of wrapping paper to donate to Thayer’s Christmas Dreams program.

The end to the first semester was a FFA Family holiday gathering. Members were invited to watch a movie, enjoy a hot chocolate bar, decorate and eat cookies, play games and build gingerbread houses.

The BG FFA Is looking forward to FFA Week activities, Bobcat-A-Thon Dance Marathon, Parent/Member Recognition Banquet and State Convention.

Bowling Green FFA is a satellite program of Penta Career Center.