Glenwood City FFA honors members at annual awards banquet

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GLENWOOD CITY – The Glenwood City Future Farmers of America (FFA) held its annual chapter awards banquet in the high school commons on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

FFA members, parents, and guests enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres but the highlight of the evening was the many awards given to Glenwood City FFA members, alumni, and community members at the annual banquet.

Degree Awards

Greenhand Degree recipients are first or second year high school members who have been involved in a minimum of two FFA events at the High School level and have extended their learning by starting their own supervised agricultural experience or SAE. 

The 2022-23 Greenhand recipients were Carson Anderson, Zach Bakken, Katelynn Bazille, Anaka Eliason, Jacob Hager, Ben Klatt, Lillie McGee, Preston McNamara, Sadie Stansbury, Opal Voeltz and Tessa Wagner.

Each Greenhand Award recipient received  a certificate and bronze pin.

Chapter Degrees were conferred upon 27 members who have been active in the Glenwood City chapter for up to three years. Receiving the award were Alex Bakken, Michaela Blaser, Aaron Brigham, Brandan Bullick, Sam Cassellius, Amalia Draxler, Jonas Draxler, Sydney Grant, Jackson Halbach, Haylie Hannah, Lyra Ketola, Brady Klatt, Maddie Klatt, Natasha Lagerstrom, Aubree Logghe, Jackson Logghe, Mitchell McGee, Trenton McNamara, Elsja Meijer, Nikki Multhauf, Eli Nerby, Alexandra Peterson, Brett Peterson, Kenzie Price, Wyatt Thompson, Eliza Voeltz and Whittnie Wittmer.

In order for a member to receive their Chapter Degree they must have earned their Greenhand Degree and have completed over ten hours of community service.

MS Members Recognized

The Discovery Degree is awarded to members who are just beginning their involvement in FFA. Students are able to begin participating as an FFA member in 7th grade and these students have taken advantage of many opportunities in their 1st and 2nd years of FFA. Nineteen Glenwood City Middle School members earned their Discovery Degrees after each had participated in at least one activity at the chapter level, are enrolled in an agriculture class and have knowledge of the agriculture industry.

Discovery Degree were awarded to Zach Bacon, Haley Barstad, Isabelle Blaser, Haley Deiss, Abe Draxler, William Dreyling, Wyatt Dreyling, Camille Gross, Jordan Hager, Logan Hillman, Shaylyn Hubble, Bella Mallory, Levi McVeigh, Max Peterson, Grant Rock-Buechner, Jesstina Smith, Jaiden Verdeja, Waylon Wagner and Anthony Wollnezein-Ness.

Top Award Winners

Three of this year’s members were honored with the chapter’s top awards –  Star Discovery Award, Star Greenhand Award, Star Chapter Farmer Award and the DeKalb Agricultural Accomplishment Award.

Zach Bacon was the recipient of the Star Discovery Degree which goes to the top middle school member. Zach was very involved with community service events and could be counted on to  attend monthly meetings. Bacon was also the top middle school fruit seller and helped out whenever he was needed.

The Star Greenhand was awarded to a freshman who has gone above and beyond during his first year of FFA in high school. This year’s recipient of the Star Greenhand Degree went to Carson Anderson who was there to help with almost every local activity the chapter participated in, often being one of the first one to arrive and the last to leave.

Senior Amalia Draxler, who served as this year’s chapter president, was named Star Chapter Farmer as well as the winner of the DeKalb Agricultural Accomplishment Award.

Draxler has been active in the Glenwood City FFA Chapter since 7th grade and has really made her mark. She has sold an abundances of fruit, helped out for numerous events throughout the year and is always a person that is reliable and can get the job done. Amalia has excelled in whatever she puts her mind to and will go places in whatever endeavors she chooses stated chapter advisor Kirsten Konder who presented the awards.

The DeKalb Agricultural Accomplishment Award is given to one senior FFA student per chapter who exemplifies scholarship, commitment, work ethic and passion for pursuing a career in agriculture. 

Honorary Chapter Degrees

At this year’s awards banquet, the Glenwood City FFA bestowed three Honorary Chapter Degrees.

Lofty Acres Farms, owned and operated by the Draxler family, was the first Honorary Chapter Award recipient. Lofty Acres Farm was established in 1903 and is still a vital piece of agriculture in the Glenwood City area. The Draxler family has a strong heritage in FFA, with Mali, Jonas and Abe being the fourth generation to be a part of the Glenwood City FFA chapter.

The second Honorary Chapter Degree was presented to Ross’ Glenwood City Lockers. There have been many businesses that have supported the Glenwood City FFA Chapter throughout its establishment in 1938. Ross’ Locker is one of the local businesses that the local chapter has been pleased to partner with for the FFA football concession stand, where members are able to serve fans fresh and locally made hot dogs, brats and pork chops.

Finally, former Glenwood City Agricultural instructor and FFA advisor Tom Knox was honored with a Honorary Chapter Degree. During his many years as a Glenwood City educator, Tom influenced students to pursue degrees in agriculture. Because of Knox’s dedication to the parliamentary procedure team this year, the team earned second place at district’s and advanced to sectionals.

Sales Awards

This year’s top sellers during the annual fruit sale were: 1st place-Alexandra Peterson, 2nd place-Natasha Lagerstrom  and 3rd place-Maddie Klatt.

Contests

Seven chapter members took the opportunity to improve upon their public speaking skills by participating in a couple leadership competitions.

Amalia Draxler placed first in the district speaking contest and was second at the sectional competition in the Prepared Public Speaking Leadership Development Event. The contest has  students write and deliver a six to eight-minute speech about a current agriculture-related topic. 

Aubree Logghe and Elsja Meijer participating in the Extemporaneous Public Speaking Leadership Development Event which participants draw from 18 agricultural topics then select three of interest. From those three, a student selects the topic of their speech and has 30 minutes to prepare 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.

Sam Cassellius and Whittnie Wittmer competed at the district level in the Discussion Meet Leadership Development Event which is designed for FFA members to demonstrate their problem solving and speaking skills on agricultural-related topics within a timely manner.

The Glenwood City FFA parliamentary procedure team received second place at districts and moved onto the sectional speaking contest. The students that competed at sectionals were Amalia Draxler, Dakota Schone, Brandan Bullick, Aubree Logghe, Sam Cassellius and Sydney Grant.

Retiring Officers

The 2022-23 retiring FFA officers were also recognized. Outgoing officers were: Amalia Draxler, president; Alexandra Peterson, Eliza Voeltz and Whittnie Wittmer, vice presidents; Maddie Klatt, secretary; Michaela Blaser, treasurer; Nikki Multhauf, reporter; Sam Cassellius, sentinel; and Brady Klatt, parliamentarian; and Brett Peterson , student advisor. Ms. Kirsten Konder made the presentations.

New Officers

The installation of the new officers for the upcoming year was one of the last items of business at the annual banquet. The 2023-24 officers are: Maddie Klatt, president; Nikki Multhauf, vice president of Community Development; Michaela Blaser, vice president of Leadership Development; Brett Peterson, vice president of Chapter Development; Elsja Meijer, secretary; Sadie Stansbury, reporter; Jackson Halback, treasurer; Eli Nerby, parliamentarian; Sam Cassellius, sentinel; and Opal Voeltz, student advisor.