Trishia Brill, senior, completed all of the online requirements to earn her WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certification from Lancaster CareerLink. She has worked on the online program since the start of her junior year, in addition to completing her Garden Spot High School graduation requirements. Earning this certification will allow her to participate in other certification programs offered by CareerLink (Metrix, OSHA Safety, Intro to Office Procedures, and more) if she chooses to do so. This certification is also a resume builder. Local companies such as Pepperidge Farms require employees to complete this certification as a requirement for employment.
Author: jhackman
Maddy George Accepts Volleyball Scholarship to PITT – Johnstown
Very proud to announce that senior girls volleyball player, Maddy George, has accepted an athletic scholarship to attend DII Pitt – Johnstown. UPJ won the PSAC conference title this year and qualified for the NCAA D2 Women’s Tournament.
Maddy earned All Section, Section MVP, League First Team, District 3 AAA First Team, Penn Live First Team and PVCA All State Status.
Maddy also recently competed in the prestigious District 3 All Star Showcase this past weekend at Cumberland Valley where she gave her verbal commitment to the UPJ coaches.
To read more about this accomplishment, visit Penn Live.
Grassland FFA Participates in the National FFA Convention
This year the 2013 National FFA Convention was held in Louisville, Kentucky. There was over 50,000 FFA members from just about every state there. The Milk Quality and Environmental Career Development (CDE) teams represented Pennsylvania at the National Convention. Both these teams placed first in the state competitions held in June to qualify went. Grassland FFA members left Monday October 28 for Louisville. On the way to Kentucky they stopped at the Kentucky Horse Park and the Salato Wildlife Education Center. On the trip
Grassland members got to stop eat at a Hibachi grill, where they meet up with Chris and Courtney Overly former Grassland FFA members who now live and work near Louisville. At the convention both teams competed in their events. Besides the competitions there was a career show, workshops, and plenty of places to buy things like at the National FFA store. There were also convention sessions and other
events to go to. Both teams went to an awards banquet for their event. The Milk Quality Team placed 20th, which earned them a silver rating. The 
Environmental Natural Resources
Team placed 13th, a gold rating. On the way back to Pennsylvania they spent the night in Zanesville Ohio again, and arrived back to Garden Spot on Sunday afternoon. Overall it was a good experience, and everyone who went seemed to enjoy it.
FFA Trip to SUNY Cobleskill
In September members of Grassland FFA traveled to the Big E in MA. On the way they stopped to visit SUNY (State University System of New York) Cobleskill campus. Students were given a tour of some of the campus including the dairy barns, and other livestock facilities to see pigs, goats, sheep, horses, and rabbits, as well as the fish hatchery. They were also shown some of the classrooms and lab
areas including one research lab where they are making fuel and biofuel out of wood chips. Overall it seemed to be a good experience for students to learn more about SUNY and opportunities in agriculture.
Grassland FFA Travels to the Big E
The Eastern States Exposition, held in Springfield MA, is a large agricultural fair for states in the Northeastern U.S. This event hosts many competitions including a variety of Career Development Events for FFA members. This year the Poultry Evaluation team competed and placed 3rd. The Milk Quality and Products team went along to practice for their upcoming National Competition. Besides competing themselves the students were also able to watch other FFA and 4-H competitions. They were able to enjoy a variety of things at the Big E; such as food to choose from, rides to go on, and other things to watch like 4H horse jumping. There were also a lot of other displays to look at and activities to experience.
Christmas on Main
Saturday, December 7, 2013!
Garden Spot High School students kick off the Sixth annual Christmas on Main event by painting holiday images on store windows in downtown New Holland.
Zelia Witwer, Monica Newswanger and Victoria Giurbino
On Saturday, November 23rd, students, Monica Newswanger, Zelia Witwer and Victoria Giurbino met downtown to paint creative holiday scenes on business windows. Millersville student art teacher, Lindsey Martin, also joined the students to paint the windows.
Victoria Giurbino, Zelia Witwer, Monica Newswanger and Miss Lindsey Martin
The students began the day by painting a snowy scene with “tooth” elves and Santa on Dr. Georgelis’ Orthodontist office window.
Next, the girls painted a computer image of Santa on the window of the Fix My Computer business located in the Kaufmann building.
This year Christmas on Main will be held on Saturday, December 7, 2013. The event is sponsored by the New Holland Business Association.
Check out the highlights of the day by visiting their homepage: christmasonmain.com.
Fundraiser for Michael Kings
This past summer, one of our former student athletes, Michael Kings, was involved in a serious car accident that almost cost him his life. Michael was a 4.0 student and a member of the basketball team for four years. He was planning on attending Penn State Harrisburg this fall until the accident occurred. He was hospitalized on July 25th in Lancaster. He then progressed down to Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Center, where he spent every day rehabilitating for several hours. Finally, at the end of September, he was released to come home for the first time since the accident. Mike has fought very hard to make a full recovery, but he knows that he still has a long road ahead of him.
The whole process has been very hard on Mike and his family, but they continue to battle through it. The GS Boys’ Basketball Team and its booster club is looking to support the family and Mike financially by raising funds through a first ever event. We are going to hold a “Mike Kings Night” on Monday December 16th, which is our first home game.
In preparation for the night we are selling Mike Kings t-shirts to help raise funds for the family. We hope to see the people who attend this game wearing Mike’s t-shirt in support. The t-shirts cost $10 and the proceeds from the shirts will go directly to the family. ALL T-SHIRT SALES WILL BE PRE-ORDER. If you are interested, please fill out the attached form and send it through our school mail or drop off at the high school for me with the payment. You can also email me the sizes that you would like, but again I need the money for the shirt before ordering you one. Orders will be accepted from now until Wednesday, December 4th. The shirts will also be sold during all HS lunches if you want to stop down.
We hope to see a large amount of students, faculty, and community member come together to help support one of our own SPARTANS! Please pass this along to all family and friends, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Below is a picture of Mike for those who don’t know him.
Garden Spot Chorus Students Chosen For Music Festivals
Seven members of the Garden Spot High School Chorus were selected by audition to participate in the LLMEA County Chorus Festival that will be held on Saturday, January 4, 2013 at Elizabethtown Area High School. The participating students are Natalie Ziemer (Soprano I), Hannah Tennis (Soprano II), Kirsten Corneilson (Alto II), Juliana Wardle (Alto II), Emily Weaver (Alto II), Joshua Houck (Tenor I) and Nicholas Skiles (Tenor I). A total of 200 students were chosen to take part in this festival from Lancaster and Lebanon counties, and the guest conductor will be Dr. Robert Bigley from Lancaster Bible College.
In addition, Kirsten Corneilson (Alto II), Juliana Wardle (Alto II) and Emily Weaver (Alto II) successfully auditioned and were chosen to attend the District 7 Chorus Festival to be held January 10-11, 2014 at Central Dauphin High School. This 2 day festival, involving 200 students from District 7, will be conducted by Lawrence Doebler, former Director of Choral Activities at Ithaca College. Being chosen for these festivals not only reflects musical talent, but also a willingness to put in much time and effort preparing the music. All of these students are to be commended for their accomplishments!
Grassland FFA Power Pro BBQ
Grassland FFA started the school year with a chicken BBQ held on September 6, 2013 at Power Pro Equipment. Power Pro asked FFA to partner with them and hold a Chicken BBQ on the Saturday they hosted an open house at their retail facility. Funds from the chicken BBQ were used to sponsor the Career Development Event (CDE) Teams traveling to the Big E and National Convention as well as to help fund other FFA activities. Students sold tickets for the meals, planned the menu, cooked the chicken and served all of the food included in the meals.
Scholarship Goat Breaks Record Bid at New Holland Fair Auction
One of the highlights of the New Holland Fair for local livestock exhibitors is the livestock auction that occurs each year on Friday night of the fair. This year local businesses teamed up to set a new record as the Grassland FFA’s R.D. Herr Scholarship Goat sold for $10.85 per pound. Travis Eby of M.H. Eby, Inc. and Kurt Good of Good’s Livestock combined for the record bid.
Bethany Sauder, a Garden Spot junior from East Earl exhibited the scholarship goat. The goat was donated to Bethany by Dr. and Mrs. Robert D. Herr. Bethany took on the responsibility of caring for the goat and then showing it at the fair. Bethany did an excellent job of presenting the animal, placing 1st in her showmanship class. As part of the agreement she will donate one half of the proceeds from the auction to the scholarship fund.
Pictured are Bethany Sauder, Dr. Robert D. Herr, founding advisor of the Grassland FFA Chapter, Travis Eby of M.H. Eby, Kurt Good of Good’s Livestock and Brian Oberholtzer, Grassland FFA Alumnus representing Horning Farm Agency who served as guest auctioneer. The $10.85 per pound bid broke the record set last year.
The scholarship animal program has been in operation since 1998. It started out as a scholarship lamb donated annually by the Herr’s and then shifted to a goat as their livestock operation changed. . The R.D. Herr Scholarship is awarded to a senior member of the Grassland FFA who has qualified by showing livestock and/or who is studying animal science or agricultural education at a university. More than $12,000 has been raised for the scholarship program and seventeen members of the chapter have been awarded scholarships. The 2013 recipient was Jalisa Zimmerman of Narvon who is study pre-veterinary medicine at the University of Illinois.