November was  a busy month for West County FFA. Our biggest event for the  month was showcase night for incoming freshmen. Our officers, as well as various members, presented our West County FFA jacket for the first time. The officers led the flag salute in the auditorium to start off the evening. The officers showed off our new blue corduroy jackets that read “West County” on the back.. It was exciting to show the unification of the Sebastopol and Forestville chapters  with our new jackets. We had a booth in the gym with a plinko game board.  We played plinko by asking agriculture related questions and handed out many prizes. We introduced our chapter officers, the Agriculture teachers and shared  information about our FFA program. We bought Ming Ming, a duck that hatched in the classroom and a bummer lamb, Tapper. Tapper the lamb was a popular attraction at the event. We presented many AgricScience displays in Annex 3. There was a set up for Viticulture, Ag Mechanics, Floral, Ag Chemistry, Ag Biology as well as Advanced Ag. Our two newest hatched ducklings were another added excitement at showcase night.

Our recruitment, community service and the fundraising committees all held meetings in November. The recruitment committee planned and executed showcase night. We planned the booths, made posters and set up each of the displays. The community service committee ran our Halloween costume drive with the costumes donated to a local school, and held a Thanksgiving canned food drive. Our December community service activity is a toy drive from the 1st-15th. Our fundraising committee is working up ideas to raise funds by holding  various events in the spring.

On November 15th we held our November chapter meeting on the visitor side of the football field. We had a good turn out and supplied pizza for our members. We held a Drive in Movie Night on November 19th at the Forestville campus. There was a movie poll on Instagram that decided the movie would be Elf! We sold chips, candy and sodas at our concession stand. The fog luckily waited until the movie was over to roll in, but blankets came in handy to stay warm. 

Another event that members are bustling to prepare for is the Sonoma Section Speaking Contest on December 8th. The contest consists of BIG, creed speaking, impromptu, extemporaneous, prepared public speaking, and job interview. BIG stands for best informed greenhand which is open to all freshmen. It’s a knowledge based test about the agriculture industry and FFA. Creed Speaking is for freshman members as well. In this contest you recite the FFA creed by EM Tiffany and answer a couple questions related to the meaning of the Creed. In impromptu, you choose three cards that may have a question, prompt, or key word related to agriculture. The member picks one, has twenty minutes to prepare, and gives a quick little speech about what you picked. This contest is a very fun contest for sophomores and a good way to dive deeper in ag. The extemporaneous contest begins by you selecting one of three topics to speak on. You’re then given thirty minutes to research, prepare and memorize your speech using five resources. Participants then present a four to six-minute speech on their topic to a panel of judges. After their speech, students answer five minutes worth of questions on the topic they just presented. (open to Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors) Prepared Speaking is for Junior and Senior members. Students write and deliver a six to eight-minute speech about a current agriculture-related topic, given word for word. You research a topic of interest and then put together a creative, informative speech. The speech is presented and there are related questions that follow. The Job Interview Career Development Event is designed for FFA members to develop, practice and demonstrate skills needed in seeking employment in the agricultural industry. In this event members submit a cover letter, resume, complete a job application and then conduct a personal interview. We have members competing in all of the contests this year.

Our Viticulture/Plant Science class has been pruning in the school vineyards.  They removed the bird netting from vines and moved it to the drip line. On the Gordon-trained vines they completed the pre-pruning process, hands on learning at work. Ag Mechanics has been busy working on electrical skills and making projects that can be exhibited at the fair. The Floral Classes made and sold beautiful cornucopia, fall inspired arrangements. They will be making winter holiday arrangements and selling them to raise money for the ag program.  In Advance Ag we have been studying poultry production. We were able to use a light to look at the growth and veins of the ducklings while they were in the egg.

Interviews

What is your favorite part of being a chapter officer?

“My Favorite part of being an officer is being part of this team that works so hard and is so close with each other. No matter what is thrown our way we all find a way to make it work out. I also enjoy representing our chapter in every event we go to.”

-Alonso Vera 2021-2022 Chapter Reporter

What is your favorite floral project you have made this year?

“My favorite project we have made in floral is definitely the fall cornucopias.”

Alexander Miltiades Pearson- Fourth Period Floral