Mississinawa Valley Holds Annual Parent/Member Banquet

The 2013-14 Mississinawa Valley FFA officers were installed at the banquet. From L to R, front row, Leslie Dirksen, Zach Dirmeyer, Levi Livingston, Brad Slyder, and Kasey Hummel. Back row, Heather Dirksen, MacKenzie Dirmeyer, Logan Nelson, Mason Roark, and Jacob Breymier.

The Mississinawa Valley FFA Chapter held its Annual Parent and Member Banquet on March 14, 2013 in the cafeteria. Over 300 people were served. The invocation was led by Mason Roark. The banquet was opened by Hope and Bobby Jankowski, and called to order by FFA president, Preston Deeter and the 2012-2013 officer team.

Donor awards were presented to the following for their support this past year: Gwen Bergman, Debbie Gower, Richard Yount, the Mississinawa Valley Custodial Staff, Dr. Lisa Wendel, Mr. Jeffrey Winchester, Megan Wagner, Kevin Bergman, Kathy Leeper, Cafeteria Staff, Barb Bateman, Jana Brueggeman, Kurt Bergman, Bill Stocksdale, Nick Hamilton, Sherry Dirksen, Doris Schweppe, Jeff Slyder, Velma Breymier, Vera Able, Sue Coppess, Shawn Peters, Sandy Denniston, Todd Murphy, Scott Brewer, Mary Boettger, Cooper Farm’s, Cy Hiestand, Richard Livingston, Pam & Craig Idle, Emily Timmerman, Cal-Maine, John & Janice Winger, Bob Armstrong, and Union City Pak-A-Sak & Subway.

James and Stephanie Conway received the Honorary Chapter Degree at the banquet for their years of service to the chapter.

Mrs. Carmen Hartzell, Mississinawa Valley’s FFA Advisor, presented chapter awards to students with outstanding Supervised Agriculture Experience Programs and other achievements.

Leslie Dirksen received the Star Greenhand award. Throughout her first year of involvement in the chapter, she has participated in numerous contests including parliamentary procedure, soil judging, agronomy, and public speaking and she also has plans started for an excellent SAE project. Leslie will also serve as the Treasurer in the chapter for the next year.

Star Award Recipients were (L to R), Star Chapter Farmer, Joe Schmitz; Star in Agri Business, Chelsea Skidmore; Star Greenhand, Leslie Dirksen; Star in Ag Placement and DeKalb Agricultural Accomplishment Award, and Preston Deeter.

Preston Deeter received the award for Star in Ag Placement. Preston has been employed with Murphy Nursery. While on the job, Preston has become a trusted and dependable employee, and now supervises other employees. His FFA activities include serving as the FFA President and General Livestock Judging.

Chelsea Skidmore was recognized as the Star in Ag Business. Through her SAE, Chelsea has learned the business of dairy farming. Chelsea owns 25 head of dairy cattle that she shows on a local, state and national level. She keeps milk records and assumes the responsibility of accounting for the farm. Chelsea is active as an FFA officer and participates in contests like prepared speaking and dairy judging.

Joe Schmitz was recognized as the Star Chapter Farmer. Through his SAE, Joe raised corn, soybeans, wheat, beef cows, market calves, sows and market pigs. Joe is active as an FFA officer and participates in contests like extemporaneous speaking and job interview.

Preston Deeter was the Dekalb Award winner. Preston has participated in many CDE’s throughout his four years in the FFA which include Food Science, Parliamentary Procedure, tractor trouble shooting, General Livestock Judging ,Envirothon. He has had excellent SAE projects throughout his four years consisting of Swine that he raised and showed at The Darke County Fair, as well as marketing throughout the United States. He has also excelled in the area of scholarship by maintaining a 3.8 GPA.

Honorary Membership was awarded to Stephanie and James Conway. Stephanie Conway has served the chapter very well by fulfilling the position of the advisor the past 6 years. Stephanie has brought many new ideas to our chapter like Dance Marathon and The Farmers Appreciations Dinner. Thanks to her the chapter has been a success the past 6 years. James Conway was at Stephanie’s side the entire 6 years. James served as the Ag ball coach for several years and was present at almost every FFA activity. He grilled out for a lot of FFA meetings, and dressed as Santa for the Christmas meeting.

The following members were recognized for their role in fundraising for the chapter through the fruit sale:

Raising $200 to $400
Kelsi Amspaugh, Zach Armstrong, Ryan Cantu, , Cale Cox, Jamie Cox, Kara Cox, Cayden Cox, Brandon Fritz, Jon Harrison,Courtney Gilbert, Victoria Humphries, Hope Jankowski, Dalton Jenkinson, Libby Jenkinson, Maleia Kemp, Liz Livingston, Kaelyn and Makinzi Marker,Trey Mendenhall, Maddie Murphy, Logan Nelson, Lauren Newbauer, Jessica Rieman, Dalton Rinderle, Mason Roark, Joe Schmitz, Nicole Scholl, Stephanie Scholl, Corey Simons, Trevor Walker, and Brad Slyder.

Raising $400-$600
Austin Coning, Lane Livingston, Madison Livingston, and Colyn Nelson.

Raising over $600
Cydney Adams, Addie Bowman, Jacob Breymier, Preston Deeter, Heather Dirksen, and Hope Neargarder.

Raising Over $900
Leslie Dirksen, MacKenzie & Zach Dirmeyer, Kasey Hummel, Lindsey Hunt, Joe Schmitz, and Chelsea Skidmore.

The top two sales people were MacKenzie & Zach Dirmeyer with $1123.00 and Leslie Dirksen with $1326.00.

Attendance awards were given to students with perfect attendance record at the monthly meetings. Those students that had perfect attendance were: Jacob Breymier Austin Coning, Kara Cox, Preston Deeter, Heather Dirksen, MacKenzie Dirmeyer, Kasey Hummel, Michael Hummel, Victoria Humphries, Lindsey Hunt, Datona Jackson, Hope Jankowski Kara Jessup, Elizabeth Livingston, Lane Livingston, Levi Livingston, Madison Livingston, Madelyn Murphy, Hope Neargarder, Paige Neargarder, Logan Nelson, Alexys Reynolds, Dalton Rinderle, Mason Roark, Joe Schmitz, Nicole Scholl, Stephanie Scholl, Chelsea Skidmore, Brad Slyder, Alysha Thompson, Brandon Fritz, Colyn Nelson, Kayla Glibert, Zach Dirmeyer, and Leslie Dirksen.

The new 2013-2014 Chapter Officers were installed into office and they are:

Jacob Breymier, President
Brad Slyder, Vice- President
Kasey Hummel, 2nd Vice-President
Heather Dirksen, Secretary
Leslie Dirksen, Treasurer
MacKenzie Dirmeyer, Reporter
Mason Roark, Sentinel
Levi Livingston, Student Advisor
Logan Nelson, Historian
Zach Dirmeyer, Parliamentarian

The following proficiency awards were also handed out at the chapter level:

Entrepreneurship

Beef Production Jacob Breymier
Dairy Production Chelsea Skidmore
Diversified Crop Production Joe Schmitz
Sheep Production MacKenzie Dirmeyer
Poultry Production Nicole Scholl
Swine Production Preston Deeter
Small animal Sydney Keen

Placement

Diversified Horticulture Preston Deeter
Poultry Production Cesar Delgado
Agricultural Services Trey Mendenhall
Agricultural Processing Addie Bowman
Dairy Production Jarryd Bridges
Food Service company Cheyenne Werner
Oil Crop Production Zach Armstrong
Outdoor Recreation Ryan Rehmert
Improvement Projects Heather Dirksen
Agricultural Mechanics Dane Blummenstock

The ushers for the evening were: Victoria Humphries and Dalton Jenkinson

Respectfully Submitted,

MacKenzie Dirmeyer
MV FFA Reporter