Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Canvas: Gingerbread

Medium: Frosting

Photographer: Bobbi Schmidt

Warm wishes to all of you on this Christmas day! Enjoy the games, fun, food, family and true meaning of this day.

My family is currently snowed in... Yeah, even though I spent time outside in the Bobcat scooping snow, I don't know if it is going to help because the snow won't stop.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

( I probably won't be able to blog then because I will be in Rome, Italy with my church youth group )

Book tested, Blake approved... Region I Fun Day!

Newspaper bridges...

Book Tested - Blake Approved.

FIRST, I just want to thank Whitney for supplying me with the following pictures!
This past weekend in New York Mills, MN about 50 Region I FFA members got together for Region I Fun Day! Luckily for Labecca, Emily and I , we were available Saturday to make the long drive up and over to Region I. The region I officer team spent a good amount of time preparing sessions,activities and learning opportunities for those new to FFA and for those more experienced with FFA. Whether it was making newspaper bridges, playing Taboo, or just talking about chapter opportunities, the day was worthwhile in developing premier leadership within each member. I know its not in the mission statement, but they should have put a line about "awesome fun", because there was a lot of that too!

After the morning sessions and Subway, we went over to the water park at Thumper Pond in Ottertail, MN. I have never been to a water park before, so I felt like I was 5 and I probably acted like it to pushing little kids out of the way so I could go down the shark slide TOO...
just kidding. But, I went down the shark slide a million times. There was a big slide for inner tubes, and a tiny little pipe slide that would be perfect if you were claustrophobic!

Introducing the Region I FFA Officer Team (minus Blake):

Whitney, Hoang, Greg, Krista, Steph & Luke, chilling at the waterpark .

For this blogs member highlight, highlighting the officer team!

Whitney from Thief River Falls ... is an eXtreme horse back rider, meaning, she races horses for endurance!

Greg from Detroit Lakes... is simply stated a true baller. I can't think of a time when we were playing basketball in the pool when he didn't miss.

Steph from New York Mills... has sheep. Need I say more ??

Luke from Lake Park-Audubon... is currently studying Agronomy at the University of Minnesota , Crookston. His advisor grew up just a few miles from my house!

Krista from Ada-Borup... is interested in a career with marketing and communications. She is famous for her birth-certificate reading... "en route", meaning she was born on the way to the hospital.

Blake from Detroit Lakes... was TOO busy to be at the waterpark! He is quite active on the high school hockey team, so he was at practice. But, I can forgive him.

Hoang from the Ada-Borup FFA Chapter... has the goal in life to work for the Peace Corps. Upon high school graduation, he would like to study environmental policy, from the agriculturalists perspective. Then, hopefully work in another country in aiding others with keeping their agriculture productive, while still being mindful of the environment it impacts. Hoang is currently serving as the Region I Treasurer! And, according to the facts poster, he is the region grammar policeman. Sew, maybee he can halp mi , cuz i'm knot taht gud with grammer!

As we made our parting ways, Emily came up with a fantastic idea to go and visit her dairy farm! SO WE DID! I met her other 9 other siblings as they were doing nightly chores. But more importantly , I met the love of my life. You got it, a little Brown Swiss calf. I will probably buy it and give her an awesome name.

See ya!

Thank you Region I for having us for your awesome day!

Where does our time, work and money go ?

Every year, since 1954, Minnesota FFA members have taken a day out of school to go out and ask local farmers for donations of corn. In my own experience of the Corn Drive, I never knew where the money went, who got it, and what it was for. Don't get me wrong, I knew it was called "Corn Drive for Camp Courage", but that meant very little to me, until yesterday when the state officer team visited...

Since 1928, Courage Center has thrived on this mission...

In my high school, being around students with special needs and education was an everyday thing because my student council advisor worked with those students. Yeah, I saw them in school, but it wasn't until visiting Courage Center that I got to see the other side. The daily routine of therapy, examination and waiting parents. Seeing the multitude of people, just like you and me, with different abilities than mine, was a wake up call.

The people who work for Courage Center are incredible individuals, dedicating a large portion of their life to ensuring every single person at Courage Center can reach their full life potential.

In the picture below, we visited the woods and metals shop where many adaptive instruments are made. Things as simple as typing a message on the computer are not so easy for someone regaining fine-motor skills. So, the piece that was created, shown below, goes over a keyboard so instead of hitting more than one key, the person can punch their fingers to pick the one and only key they want.

Think...
What if you had some form of disability ? What impact would it have on your daily life, education, family and personal life ?

If you didn't know, the over $100,000 annually raised by Minnesota FFA chapter Corn Drives goes to support people, young and old, to go to camps where,

"They can feel normal for ONE day."

- as staff member shared.

When I think about my own life, I have been gifted with many abilities and talents. So often, I take them for granted, or I don't even share them others. After visiting Courage Center, I have a strong desire to be more assertive of sharing my abilities with others. So, when the next summer rolls around, I plan to volunteer at Courage Center North, where the camp focuses on individuals with speech, communication and hearing disabilities.

Yeah! It's a party in Region VIII !

Earlier this summer I was fortunate enough to be asked to serve as a Region VIII Greenhand Camp Rec. Director! From December 4-6, 2009 over 50 greenhands from the chapters in Region VIII MN FFA, assembled at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch in Stewartville,MN for 3 days of fun, friends, and FFA.
Kirsten , a fellow Region VI-er, joined me as the Rec Director team! I had a complete blast interacting with FFA members, watching the Region officers in action and helping with all of the behind the scenes work with Kirsten at camp.

The Region VIII Officer Team ... The banquet committee (future region officers ???)

My 3 highlights from Camp are:

- Camp service projects

- Ag Olympics

- Getting to know Region VIII FFA members

As a part of showing our gratitude to the men and women at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch, we all took part in a variety of service oriented projects such as splitting wood, cleaning the lodge, removing buck thorn and cleaning out horse stalls. I found it especially humbling to have given service to people who have served, and will continue to serve, people of all abilities for many years. It also brought life to the meaning of "Living to Serve." Too often we think of the 3 other parts of the motto, "Learning to Do, Doing to Learn & Earning to Live." Service is integral to our organization and to our own personal growth! Make sure to report your hours to the LAND OF SERVICE , mnffaservicehours@hotmail.com

(LEFT) Mike of P-E-M FFA with members: Dylan, Luke and Justin of Winona FFA

(RIGHT) Kyle of the Lanesboro FFA helps with the removal of invasion Buck thorn during a service project

Late on Saturday night, after much preparation, Kirsten and I let the region officers relax from their busy sessions, and entertain the Greenhands with the 2nd Annual Ag Olympics! 10 teams competed in the: Ironwood derby horse race, butter carving, animal idol, cow-pie-eating, nail driving, nose-egg race, sunflower spittoon and a little surprise for the region officers. Blake was victorious in animal idol (animal calling contest) with his impersonation of an ostrich. Even though his egg broke half way through, Taylor finished the egg-rolling race with his nose. Except, he only finished with the hard boiled yolk, the rest was destroyed on the race course.

Little did the region officers know, we left some surprises in their ice-cream...

(Cayenne pepper, Chili powder and Curry powder)

Finally, one of the most rewarding things about going to camps and conferences like this, is meeting members...
Cabby, Southland FFA... made my day just as I was playing shuffle-board with her and completely missed the board, she said, "FAIL... Epic FAIL." It was a pretty funny moment.

Taylor, St. Charles FFA... is one of the most athletic people I have met. Just as a freshman, he started every single football game in just about any position you could think of including, TE, WR and RB. On top of his skills on the grid-iron, Taylor can do 3 back flips consecutively... Talk about talent.

Faith, Leroy-Ostrander FFA... is still looking to find the CDE just for her. She is really interested in Horses, so she hopes to make it to State Convention in Horse Evaluation! Faith also received the award for most Personal Growth. Well deserved.

Nick, Mabel-Canton FFA... loves to judge livestock. He has a diverse knowledge of the terminology and features of most species. He raises Jersey dairy cattle, and loves to judge them.

Kamyn, Pine Island FFA... is a ninja-cow pie eating master! How do I know? Well, when it comes to playing ninja, she always seems to just disappear and then-BAM!- you are out. Also, she was one of the top 'de-wormers' in the cow pie eating contest.

Blake, Plainview-Elgin-Millville FFA... was cabin-mates with me, again! The first time being FILL conference, and second RGC. However, I learned this time that Blake has quite the interesting story involving a hot pink helmet, and a deer antler glued to the top. Quite simply, within 5 weeks, he had 5 different injuries to his head, so his chapter gave him the helmet to keep him safe!

Yeah Region VIII ! It finally snowed = SNOW ANGELS! Calli and I, and the Paul jumped in!

Go Steve Go! Becky, giving the thumbs up to my numerous pictures! Just before everyone left.

I took over 700!!!!

Thank you Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch for your continuous support of MN FFA members, and thank you Chelsea, Jason, Calli, Steve, Katie, Jenny, Mike, Jared, Lauren, Kevin, Mr. Lubahn and Mr. Brown for giving me the opportunity to serve MN FFA members in a new way! Your team did an excellent job interacting and inspiring the future of our organization...

Having a Owa-TON-na of fun!

Facebook is truly a great tool! Just the other week I was chatting with my friend Travis from Owatonna and he invited me to their chapter meeting, last night. After some traffic, getting lost, taking the wrong exit, asking random people at a Holiday gas station for directions and walking through a large school with 3rd graders being herded like cattle down the hallway- I finally made it!
I had a great time sharing my own experiences, as well as learning more about the Owatonna FFA Chapter.Unfortunately, the current membership numbers within the FFA program are lower than past years. We discussed some ways that we could recruit more students to consider joining FFA, including having some Ag-Olympics, lunch games and activities at chapter meetings. Anyone up for some 4-square ?


After some good time getting to learn more about the chapter, we all headed over to Godfather's Pizza! Steph let me follow her because I'm terrible at directions. I was definitely not hungry, but when Godfather's dessert pizza is on the menu, I've got room. As I was making the late trip back to St.Paul, of course I got my directions messed up, and instead of traveling NORTH on 35 W, I went SOUTH... But I caught myself. I think I need to resort to bread crumbs...


Joe ... has just began his journey within FFA this year. He is hoping to be involved with either Horse Evaluation or Fish and Wildlife.


Kelsey... helped me celebrate, NATIONAL CREEPER DAY! It was good to see her again, because her humor is incredibly contagious. Kelsey shared with me her passion to want to be an ag teacher.


D.J. ...is currently serving as the Owatonna FFA chapter president. Ontop of his leadership accomplishment on the chapter level, he has also set an example for Minnesota FFA members as he was a contributing member of the 2008 , 4th place National Farm Business Management team!


Steph ...is my new found compass. She loves her Jersey dairy cattle, serving as a Region VII officer as has aspirations to serve the membership of Minnesota FFA on new levels. Keep it up!


Matt... is Matt. He is quite the thinker/planner/conceptualizer when it comes to chapter events and activities. After high school, Matt would like to serve our country in the United States Army.

- Thank you Ms. Tinaglia and Mr. Spindler for sharing with your students the value of agricultural education!

I hope this won't be my only post about this chapter because I want to visit again.