Ridgemont FFA

* Corn and soybeans are the top Ohio crops.

 

* Ohio leads the U.S. in production of Swiss cheese.

 

* Ohio has 3,400 beekeepers containing 29,900 bee colonies.

 

* There are 1,470,000 cattle, 2,000,000 hogs, and 115,000 sheep in Ohio.

 

* Ohio dairy cattle produce over 5.13 billion pounds of milk each year.

 

* Ohio poultry produce 7.1 billion, or 592 million dozen eggs per year.

 

* Ohio ranks 16th in beef production with 15,000 beef farms with 292,000 cows.

 

* Ohio has nearly 75,000 farms.

 

* Ohio has 14 million acres of land being used for agricultural purposes-more than half the land area in the state.

 

* Agriculture adds $98 billion a year to Ohio

 

Each year, farmers in Ohio produce:

 

* 7.4 billion eggs   

* 338 million pounds of chicken 

 

* 5.2 million turkeys

 

* 500 million pounds of beef

 

* 997 million pounds of pork 

 

* 1.2 million pounds of lamb 

 

* 600 million gallons of milk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Sincerely,

  

For the second year now, the OSGMP or the Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program has put out the "Food for Thought" grant. This grant was intended to give money to the schools or groups that applied so that they can conduct programing to introduce or implement healthy eating and whole grain snacks and food not only the students but the community too. The first year had fewer numbers of applicants than expected, so at the end of school last year they asked if the schools that applied had any suggestions on how to make the program better. After some feedback they decide to hold a meeting with some of the students that had conducted the programing. We took part in an open forum style meeting on how to make the program better. Last December, we attended another meeting at the Wyandot Snack Foods facility, there we made proposals on what and how to make the program better. We also came up with an action plan on how to accomplish it. This program has helped students become better leaders and learn how a real business meeting works because the OSGMP has given a lot of the planning and authority on how to run the "Food for Thought" grant over to this youth advisory council. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program.     

   

  

Students learn life skills as they work side by side with other generations from the local community to make numerous quilts. Students went through the designing process for the comfort tops. Some followed through to the next stage in the process, piecing together the tops that were designed by learning some sewing skills. Other students were involved on the process of sandwiching the top, bottom and the stuffing together. As others tied knots in the blankets to keep the sandwiching job together. In the two days that the local community members and students worked on these we had made close to 30 blankets to be donated to the Cross Roads Crisis Center. We look forward to doing this again this month, December of 2013!

 

This past year, we had the chance to talk at the Farm to School Conference. Mrs. Jolliff, Mrs. Persion, Kimme Tackett, and I all talked about the actives that we do during the conference. One of the activities that we talked about is our annual Food for America. During Food for America we invite the third graders to a local dairy farm to spend the day with us learning about agriculture safety, practices, and productions. We now have included S.T.E.M into Food for America. We then talked about the Healthy Arcade that we completed at the

 elementary with the 7 healthy activities with all of the students to promote healthy living. Along with the Healthy Arcade, we also did one at the high school that was more suited for high school students. The last topic that we talked about was the social art project that the Advanced Art done. We took some of the art with us to the conference to show as an example of how it ties into agriculture. Many of the people that were at the conference were very impressed that high school students were able to make it and how well the pieces looked. We hope to attend this conference again and share what the Ridgemont FFA is doing.

 

 

 

In the Junior and Senior Ag classes, Mrs. Jolliff introduced a new type of learning curriculum that took place early this year. Student-centered classrooms were in effect and open to students until the end of the school year. This new type of learning gave the students the keys needed to have their own say on what they should learn and gain. Different standards are open to students to choose from depending on their drive and curiosity. This will hopefully create a climate of collaborative learning with students driven in their own education and making progress to their futures after high school. We look forward to building upon this experience in our current year to build not only a stronger FFA and Ag program, but to build each of our students into successful individuals. 

 

Last year, an annual event called Scarlet and Grey Ag day took place at the Ohio State University. This event serves a purpose to educate younger children about the #1 business of agriculture. It educates young ones about agricultural related things anywhere from shaving a sheep to world hunger. The Ridgemont FFA was invited to not participate as group leaders this year but we were selected to participate in the teaching. Our duty was to have accomplished the goal about helping young children understand the scale of world hunger. To fulfill this purpose, an activity was done with the kids called, Let's Eat Cake. Children were divided into groups called regions, such as Asia and Latin America, by population. They then were given separate food rations based on the regions income as well as the regions production to show the large difference. The children experienced a real life situation through this activity and were inspired to think about how to solve world hunger.

 

At the end of last school year, our FFA Chapter hosted its 49th annual banquet to celebrate the success we have had in the year which is quickly coming to an end. There was music, food catered by The Plaza Inn, a silent auction, and memories that are going to last a life time. Each member was recognized for their outstanding work in the service- learning project of their choice as well as leadership, scholar, and a 110% award was given to students who show premier leadership and magnificent grades. The night was ended with senior parent recognition, officer recognition, and a slide show featuring the activities we have done throughout the year. We look forward to pulling off a tremendous banquet this year to celebrate the Ridgemont FFA Chapter's 50th year and we look forward to seeing you all there!