Members Recognized At Watford City High School FFA Banquet

On April 10, the Watford City FFA Chapter held their 53rd annual banquet. Chapter officers presented the opening ceremonies. Nearly 200 parents, members and guests were in attendance. Ryan Taylor was the special guest speaker this year. He spoke about how his FFA experience as chapter president in Towner, ND, led him to serve in the state senate and now run for governor. Cody Folden, Northwest Region vice president, brought greetings from the State FFA Officer Team. Taylor Dwyer, Sam Jorgenson and Allison Monsen introduced the slide show recapping the year’s events. Members were presented with both production and agribusiness proficiency awards for their Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) projects. With over 85 members, the Watford City FFA Chapter continues to develop its members through premier leadership, personal growth and career success.

The 2012 STAR Greenhand was Kari Berg, daughter of Kelly and Donna Berg, and a very proud and determined FFA member. She has been the top fruit seller in each of her first two years as an FFA member where she has sold over $5,000 in fruit and meat so far. Kari has volunteered to help at concessions on many occasions. She wears her FFA jacket with pride at every FFA meeting and has set a high standard of respect for FFA for others to follow. Kari has certainly started out her first two years in FFA at a very high level.

The STAR in Agribusiness this year is Jennifer Levang. Jennifer is the daughter of Dean and Carolyn Levang. She is currently our chapter secretary. Jennifer has been very active in FFA since her freshmen year. She has attended District Leadership twice, where she earned silver in Parliamentary Procedure this past year. She was a top fruit seller each of her four years of high school and was named top Senior Salesman this year. Jennifer has served our FFA well with her strong work ethic.

The STAR Farmer and recipient of the Casey Johnson $500 memorial scholarship is Hayes Feilmeier. Hayes is the son of Lonnie and Marcy Feilmeier. Hayes is currently our chapter president, where he has shown outstanding leadership. He has attended District Leadership twice and has won numerous chapter proficiency awards in the last few years. He was also the recipient of the Dekalb Agriculture Accomplishment Award at the banquet. Hayes always has such a great attitude and will go far in life.

The FFA chapter also awarded plaques to the outstanding member of each grade. Members earn points for participating in activities, volunteering their time, entering projects in the fairs, and fundraising. The Outstanding Freshmen were Erick Leiseth and Shania Rolla. The Outstanding Sophomores were Kari Berg and Joseph Meuchel. The Outstanding Juniors were Taylor Dwyer, Allison Monsen, Brandon Taylor, Madison Brown and Sam Jorgenson. The Outstanding Senior was Jennifer Levang.

Members were also recognized and presented leadership awards for their FFA accomplishments. The retiring officers included President Hayes Feilmeier, Vice President Saige Feilmeier, Secretary Jennifer Levang, Treasurer Taylor Dwyer, Reporter Allison Monsen, Sentinel McKayla Haugeberg, Parliamentarian Nate Egeberg, Historian Davis Zubke and Student Advisor Clay Billing. Other awards included Cody Johnson for the Creed, Sam Jorgenson in Job Interview, Tara Loomer in Public Speaking, and Joseph Meuchel and Andrew Sampsel in Demonstration.

Receiving an FFA jacket as part of the Blue Jackets Bright Futures program were Clay Jorgenson and Shania Rolla. Representing our chapter at the Greenhand Conference this year were Keegan Thompson, Erick Leiseth and Hunter Olson. Attending the 360 Degree Conference were Sam Jorgenson, Kalen Hartel, Nate Egeberg, Kelli Linseth, Madison Brown and Cassidy Chapin.

The top young salesmen were Freshmen Jonathan Dunn, Cody Johnson, Wyatt Staal and Shania Rolla and Sophomore Kari Berg. Other top salesmen included Jordan Pokrzywinski, Reese Frick, Cole Rolfsrud, Kalden Heggen, Hayes Feilmeier, Davis Zubke, Tara Loomer, Allison Monsen, Fallon Maston and Brandon Taylor. Kari Berg was the leading seller. The top senior salesman receiving a plaque was Jennifer Levang. It included the fruit and meat sales for all four years.

Every year the chapter honors local people who support the FFA by presenting Honorary FFA degrees. This year’s recipients were Rocky Prestangen, Gerry Transtrom and Justin Johnsrud.

Gerry has always been a strong supporter of the FFA. In fact, he was one of the very first FFA members of the Watford City FFA Chapter. He has been an agricultural leader of our community throughout his life, but has especially helped our FFA Chapter over the past six as custodian and head groundskeeper for our school district. He has taken the time to help haul our grill to the football field, unloaded fruit and was helpful in anything we asked of him. Rocky has graciously served on the Agriculture Education Advisory committee for the past 11 years. While working at McKenzie Electric, he has provided a great supervising station for many FFA members. Because of his support, it has been one of the most sought after training stations among our co-op students. Justin was a former Watford City FFA member and a graduate of the class of 1994. He has been an agriculture education teacher and FFA Advisor here for the past four years. He has been a great addition to our school district and leader of our FFA chapter. He has driven the bus to numerous FFA events, helped with judging teams, helped set up for many events including our banquet tonight, and is a great teacher of agriculture courses. This year, he has taught dual credit classes including welding and carpentry to give students in our school more opportunities. Justin has been an excellent addition to our Ag Education program and members are very excited to give him this recognition. “Honorary membership” - farmers, school superintendents, principals, members of boards of education, chapter advisors, teachers, business people and others who are helping to advance Agricultural Education and the FFA, and who have rendered outstanding service, may be elected to honorary membership by a majority vote of the members present at any regular meeting or convention.

The FFA Chapter would like to thank the community for once again showing such support to our FFA program this year and special appreciation is also given to the 1st Lutheran women of Keene for once again serving an excellent meal. Members are looking forward to their State Convention June 4-8.

 

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