27 Greenhand and 10 Chapter degrees presented at Colfax FFA Banquet
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — A variety of awards were given out at the Colfax FFA Banquet April 5 at Colfax High School, including 27 Greenhand FFA Degrees and ten Chapter FFA Degrees.
Greenhand FFA Degrees are awarded to members who have completed one year of membership.
Greenhand FFA Degrees were awarded to Katie Albricht; Tommy Anderson; Tyler Blodgett; Daelynn Blodgett; Dalton Bradford; Hunter Clemetson; Emmie Edwards; Jackson Hellmann; Ariah Kadinger; Abby Kluckmann; Trinity Krueger; Santanna Longdo; Desiree Mathews; Taylor Meyer; Christina Michaels; Kamdon Quast; Brandi Quimby; Trevor Rothbauer; Chris Scharlau; Andrew Schneider; Madison Shipley; Annie Sonnentag; Brooklyn Sorenson; Emma Stone; Hannah Sykora; Ben Thompson; and Desirae Welk.
The Star Greenhand is awarded to a first-year member who is active in many activities.
This year’s Star Greenhand was awarded to Dalton Bradford, who competed in the district speaking contest, volunteered for every FFA activity and participated at this year’s soil judging contest at UW-River Falls and tied for first place.
Chapter degrees
Members who have completed at least two years of membership receive the Chapter FFA Degree. Members remain Chapter members until they receive their State FFA Degree.
This year, the following members completed their second year of membership: Jesse Anderson; Amanda Christianson; Jack Edwards; Mason Harmon; Alex Hayes; Cole Hill; Mikaela Leibfried; Zach Meyer; Alex Sykora; and Andrea Scharlau.
Dairy Expo
Colfax FFA members attend the World Dairy Expo in Madison every fall and compete in dairy contests against other schools in Wisconsin.
The Colfax dairy cattle evaluation team did well with Jared Taylor leading the team, which ranked 55th out of 390.
The dairy evaluation team included Abby Suvada; Brielle Bjork; and Jared Taylor.
The dairy products team placed 54th out of 198 teams lead by Bryce Kragness (who placed 55th out of 390 other contestants) and included Bryce Kragness; Brooklyn Sorenson; and Trevor Rothbauer.
Sectional leadership
This year’s Section 2 Leadership Workshop was held at Glenwood City High School, and seven Colfax FFA members attended: Sarah Scharlau; Abby Schotter; Katie Albricht; Jack Edwards; Erin Nellessen; Bryce Kragness; Jared Taylor.
Soil judging
Colfax FFA participated in the soil judging contest last fall at 5 Star Dairy near Elk Mound.
Colfax placed first in the soil judging over Boyceville, Menomonie, Elmwood and Durand.
About 120 students competed in the contest.
The members of the first-place team were Dakota Homann (first place individual); Ross Taylor (second place individual); Jared Taylor (fifth place individual); Taylor Meyer (eighth place individual).
National FFA
Nine Colfax FFA members attended the 2015 National FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky: Kristi Hagen; Abby Suvada; Brielle Bjork; Jared Taylor; Ben Christianson; Zach Meyer; Jesse Anderson; Eden Logslett; Ross Taylor.
Speaking contests
Four Colfax FFA members competed in the 2015 District FFA Speaking Contest at Boyceville.
FFA Creed Speaking (ability to recite the five paragraph FFA creed): Dalton Bradford; Job Interview: Ross Taylor; Prepared Speech: Abby Schotter; Discussion Meet: Jared Taylor.
Farm Forum
Four Colfax FFA members went to a mid-year leadership conference in Wisconsin Rapids, which helps build skills needed for successful leaders in agriculture: Jezzicka Tweed; Abby Schotter; Brielle Bjork; Abby Suvada.
Ag Technology
The UW-River Falls Ag Technology Contest has 18 different contests, and this year, Colfax had 22 students compete in eight different contests: Alex Sykora (dairy evaluation); Taylor Meyer, Madison Shipley, Abby Kluckmann, Emmie Edwards (placed fourth in Food Science); Sarah Scharlau (16th), Chris Scharlau, Dalton Schotter, and Ben Thompson following close behind Sarah (forestry); Abby Suvada and Ariah Kadinger (horse); Ben Christianson, Bryce Kragness, Jack Edwards, Jared Taylor (advancing to state placing second out of 36 teams) (livestock judging); Dalton Bradford (tied for first place) (soils); Abby Schotter (veterinary science); Ross Taylor (second over 98 participants), Zach Meyer, Jackson Hellman and Trevor Rothbauer (advancing to state placing sixth out of 19 teams) (wildlife); Cole Hill (power tool drag race); Taylor Farm (first place haylage).
Last year, the livestock team (Jack Edwards; Bryce Kragness; Jared Taylor; Ben Christianson) placed 14th in the state, and the wildlife team (Zach Meyer; Ross Taylor; Hunter Lieffort; Tucker Teige) placed 20th at the state contest.
FFA Bowling
During FFA week, the Colfax FFA went snow tubing in Hudson and went bowling at Viking Bowl.
The top scoring bowlers were Trinity Krueger and Zach Meyer.
Top Salesperson
Even though Colfax High School and the Colfax FFA Alumni give financial support to the FFA, members still need to fund raise.
Ben and Amanda Christianson were third place and received a $50 check and a plaque.
Alex and Hannah Sykora were second place and received a $75 check and a plaque.
Jesse Anderson was the top salesperson and received a check for $100. Jesse’s name will be on a plaque kept on display in the agriculture room.
Star Chapter Degree
The Star Chapter FFA Degree is given to members of FFA who have completed three or more years of FFA membership and excel in agriculture achievement, FFA participation and a program in production agriculture or an agriculture field.
This year, the Star Chapter FFA Degree in Agriscience was awarded to Ben Christianson.
The Colfax FFA Star Chapter Farmer is Jared Taylor.
DeKalb Leadership
The DeKalb Leadership award is presented to a senior with a superior record of scholarship, leadership and agricultural work experience.
This year, Sarah Scharlau received the DeKalb Leadership Award.
Honorary Chapter
Farmers, school superintendents, principals, school board members, Chapter advisors, teachers and other school staff, business owners, and others who have given outstanding service may be elected to the Honorary FFA Chapter Degree.
This year’s Colfax FFA Honorary Chapter Degree was awarded to Chuck Brown, store manager at Cedar Country Cooperative in Colfax.
Colfax FFA Alumni
The Colfax FFA Alumni award is given to an individual, a group or a business that has supported the efforts of the Colfax FFA Alumni.
This year, the Colfax FFA Alumni Award was presented to Creative Country Embroidery and Alaine Sonnenberg.
Larry Osterberg
In Memory of Larry Osterberg, the Larry Osterberg Award is given to an active FFA Alumni member who has been invaluable to the success of the organization.
This year’s Larry Osterberg Award was given to Linda Stehling for her varied talents and capabilities in helping the FFA Alumni and filling in wherever she is needed, including writing the fair book, entering the Colfax fair entries and assisting with the Colfax Farm Toy Show.
FFA Alumni Scholarships
Each year, the Colfax FFA Alumni gives out two $500 scholarships.
The first scholarship is the Colfax FFA Leadership Scholarship, and this year’s recipient was Zach Meyer.
The second scholarship is the Colfax FFA Alumni Scholarship in Agriculture, and this year’s recipient was Jared Taylor.