The Grassland FFA would like to welcome and thank our student teacher, Ms. Robyn Bechtel for all of her hard work. As a student teacher in agricultural education she has experienced a wide array of activities including teaching Environmental Science, Horticulture and FFA Leadership 10. He will be working with some other classes including Aquatics, Forestry and Wildlife before her student teaching experience is completed. A former FFA member Ms. Bechtel has a strong background in animal husbandry  as she grew up on a family dairy farm in Blair County. While in high school she was the national champion in the FFA Dairy Cattle Judging Competition. She excelled in other areas of FFA including her Supervised Agricultural  Experience (SAE) Record Book, Public Speaking. Land Judging and  and Envirothon competitions. She has already earned a B.S.  in Dairy and Animal Science and is finishing up her master’s Degree while student teaching.  Ms. Bechtel has lent her expertise to the chapter serving as a chaperone to the National FFA Convention, ACES conference , and will be accompanying the group on out upcoming Chapter Officer Retreat as well as the State Legislative Leadership Conference.

She will also be working with several Career Development teams as we approach regional and state competition.

We feel very fortunate to have such a dedicated student teacher working with us and want to thank her for all of her efforts on behalf of the Grassland FFA .

Ms. Robyn Bechtel joins a group of past, present and future FFA members as they celebrate  National FFA Week at Hoss’s Steak and Sea House in Lititz. 20 Students from Grassland FFA Participated in the County wide event.

One of the highlights of FFA is attending Conferences with many other FFA members from various chapters in the state. This past weekend, February 18-19, 20 students, 2 teachers, and 1 student teacher from our chapter attended ACES, a conference that stands for Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success. The theme for this year was “Out of This World.”  Students became part of a NASA Team “NASA- Noticing Agricultural Students Achievements” While at the conference, students participated in six workshops . The sessions were all named after the theme, as though the students were part of a NASA team, but focused on teaching about agricultural leadership concepts. A few of the workshops included topics on agricultural awareness/global agriculture, leadership/teamwork, and budgeting. After the workshops, they attended a dinner buffet, space party, and settled down for reflections before heading off to their hotel rooms for the evening. Then on Sunday, there was a time of inspiration conducted by the state officers, a breakfast buffet, a workshop on publicizing local chapters, and closing remarks. The students had a great time meeting other FFA members, learning more about agriculture and leadership and spending time with friends.

Members of the Grassland FFA at the conclusion of the ACES Leadership Conference.