INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – This past year one FFA chapter in Ohio hosted multiple events that included a Greenhand Conference, a Growing Care event, Young Ag Conference, Family Farm Safety Night, Fall Harvest Market, “Egg-spression of Appreciation” breakfast, Poultry Days Advocacy and hosted safety training for EMTs and firefighters.

The efforts of this 150-member chapter didn’t go unnoticed as it was awarded the 2022 Model of Excellence during the 95th National FFA Convention & Expo held last month in Indianapolis.

“We all were a little bit shocked because we really didn’t expect the recognition,” said Versailles FFA president Zoe Billenstein. “We’re very excited and happy to get this award and maybe it was deserved, but it’s just the things we do here.”

The group’s many activities led to this recognition, and it all began with the Greenhand Conference.

“This was completely geared to helping new FFA members, or greenhands, jump-start their career in FFA, introducing them to FFA and helping them become more familiar and accustomed to what FFA truly is and what it all means,” Billenstein said. “We did this in cooperation with our Ohio state FFA officers.”

It marked the chapter’s 26th consecutive year with the Greenhand Conference, held for all greenhands in the state of Ohio. There were 298 attendees. The theme this year was “First Down and Life to Go.” Various workshops included opportunities in FFA, teamwork, goal setting, communication and Supervised Agriculture Experiences (SAE).

Next up was the Growing Care event, which was designed around helping improve the physical and mental health of residents at a nearby health care center.

“What we did was donate raised waterbeds, seed packets and more so they could grow their own produce, which they can use on their salad bars throughout the year,” Billenstein said.

That effort was followed by the Young Ag Conference.

“This was geared towards helping students at the high school, middle school and elementary school, illustrating to them the opportunities in ag careers, especially those locally,” said chapter student advisor Colin Batten. “It allowed them to someday seek out their own careers in ag. Those in attendance could learn from five different individual professionals of their choice, to learn about their ag careers.”

Assisting in this effort were ag professionals in the county, as well as agriculture colleges and ag businesses. Also in attendance that day was Ohio Director of Agriculture Dorothy Pelanda.

With multiple farm-related accidents in Darke and surrounding counties the past few years, the Versailles FFA chapter held a Family Farm Safety Night.

“We unfortunately have had a string of farm accidents in our county and surrounding area,” Batten said. “This event was geared towards any stakeholders, community members and FFA members to let them know the importance of safety on the farm. We were able to distribute safety equipment to all attendees.”

More than 250 farm families from four counties attended this inaugural event. In attendance were many guest speakers from emergency agencies. Also present was Dr. Dee Jepsen, OSU farm safety specialist. Farmers were encouraged to bring their children to the event to learn of safety on the farm. Each family in attendance was given a respirator, safety harness, or four-way gas monitor to help prevent accidents on the farm.

The Fall Harvest Market and Community Blood Drive allowed chapter members to share and display their Supervised Agriculture Experience, or SAE.

“This allowed some of our own members the opportunity to sell some of their items, earn a profit and expand on their SAEs,” Batten said.

At the Fall Harvest, FFA members Eden and Levi Barga offered milk, ice cream, fudge and soap from their goats. Chapter member Danica York sold pumpkins as part of her SAE, while Lauren Grogean sold honey as part of her SAE. 

This chapter got very creative with its “Egg-spression of Appreciation” breakfast. At this event the chapter members served 600 omelets to the community and used this gathering to speak about food production from the farm.

“We thought the ag community has gotten a bad rap lately and wanted to remind the public about the importance of farming, food production and distribution,” Batten said.

This chapter held a Poultry Days Advocacy event.

“We held this around our home town festival, Poultry Days,” Billenstein said. “We set up a tent where we conducted several activities, such as a petting zoo, promoted ag with specially designed t-shirts and more.”

Last on their list, the group hosted an EMT & Firefighters Safety Training class.

“This was training for first responders and included six hours of training and gave attendees credits toward their CEU Certification,” Billenstein said.

The Versailles FFA chapter is spearheaded by advisers Dena Wuebker and Taylor Bergman.