Johnson County FFA members attend leadership dinner

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. —  Eight local FFA members were guests of the Johnson County Farm Bureau at the recent Indiana Leadership Dinner on May 15.

The dinner was sponsored by the Indiana FFA Foundation for the business community and featured former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as the keynote speaker.

Johnson County FFA chapters sent two members each. Students chosen to represent their schools were Kyle Seacat and Blake Kite, Central Nine; Codi Morrison and Nicole Stropes, Indian Creek; Kelley Mann and Daniel Bechman, Franklin; and Ashlie Brown and Hannah Goeb, Whiteland. Farm Bureau board members Amy Spurgeon and Joe Kelsay hosted the group.

The Indiana FFA Foundation hosted the event as a fund-raiser for the Indiana FFA Leadership Continuum, a fund supporting the development of leadership and service skills of future business and community leaders in Indiana.


National FFA announces Earth Day Service Challenge Awards

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The National FFA Organization in partnership with Timberland PRO announces the first-ever Earth Day Service Challenge award winners.
The $7,000 Best Impact grant, awarded to the chapter that demonstrates the most powerful impact to the community, goes to the Oshkosh West FFA chapter from Oshkosh, Wis.

The $3,000 Best Civic Engagement grant, given to the chapter with the most volunteer involvement, was won by the East Bay FFA chapter in Gibsonton, Fla.

The award money can be used to launch a future civic engagement project or fulfill other chapter needs related to community engagement.

The Oshkosh West FFA chapter worked with the Oshkosh Conservation Club to turn a 30-acre parcel of land into a nature area with a trail. The chapter also worked with the Lions Club on their adopt-a-flowerbed program and Trout Unlimited to complete a stream cleanup and water testing day. The East Bay FFA chapter collaborated with Tampa Bay Watch, a nonprofit environmental group, to harvest and replant salt marsh grasses for an environmental restoration project. More than 280 volunteers worked for a total of 367 hours and planted 3,800 shrubs and plants along a half mile of shoreline.

The 2007 Timberland PRO Earth Day volunteer events focused on reforestation with a variety of activities such as planting trees, refurbishing trails and greenways and restoring native species.