Category: Activities

This year’s Jefferson County Agribusiness Banquet held on Friday, March 16, at Fairbury Junior-Senior High School was successful. The Jefferson County Agribusiness Banquet is an annual event organized by the Jefferson County FFA Alumni to give an opportunity for agriculturalists and business people to meet for an evening including a meal, awards and entertainment. The FFA is very involved – setting up for the banquet, serving the drinks, and cleaning up afterwards.

“The Fairbury FFA is proud to be a part of this annual event,” said Thomas Dux, Fairbury FFA Advisor. “It’s great experience and exposure for our chapter, and an enjoyable evening.”

This year’s banquet served about 325 guests, and had 35 local businesses serve as table sponsors and additional businesses as speaker sponsors.

The event is not designed to be a fund-raiser, but rather is a community service of the FFA Alumni. The ticket price assists with expenses.

“We are pleased to see this long-time tradition in Jefferson County,” said Lana Likens, Fairbury FFA Alumni secretary. “We are very appreciative of all of the work of our local FFA chapter to make it possible, as well as of the area businesses who serve as table sponsors and speaker sponsors.

The evening included Fairbury Public Schools Superintendent Steven Grizzle providing information on the Farm 2 School program, which provides locally raised beef and pork for the Fairbury School lunch program. He also honored donors to the program so far, and accepted a donation from the Fairbury FFA Alumni.

The Fairbury FFA Alumni Scholarship of $500 was presented to Ashley Griffey, who will be attending Southeast Community College-Milford.

Entertainment was provided by Dave Thorell, member of the Nebraska Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Thorell retired from dedicated service to rural listeners in 2016 after 42 years of service on KRVN in Lexington. Thorell speaks of agriculture and rural Nebraska with authenticity and humor.

The meal was catered by Ricky’s of Hanover, Kan.

The Fairbury FFA Chapter had 35 members compete at the 2018 District 5 Career Development Events (CDE) Contest on Tuesday, March 6th at Southeast Community College in Beatrice.  These 35 members represented Fairbury FFA well by competing in a variety of contests but came up against some stiff competition in the district.  Fairbury FFA did have some individual success as Sara Huss placed 1st in Ag Biotechnology, Ashlee Griffee placed 3rd in Agronomy and Jared Engelman received a 3rd place medal in Nursery and Landscape.  Below is a complete list of all the team and individual results for the Fairbury FFA Chapter members that competed in the District 5 CDE contests.

The welding contest consists of a team of three members where one member has to Oxygen-Acetylene (O/A) weld, one member has to Shielded Metal Arc Weld (SMAW), and one member has to Gas Metal Arc Weld (GMAW).  Fairbury had two welding teams compete in the district contest with team one consisting of Brock Barton who received a purple ribbon in the O/A division, Jacob Maschmann who received a red ribbon in the GMAW division, and Jesse Graves who received a purple ribbon in the SMAW division. The second team consisted of Trevin Arnold who received a red ribbon in the O/A division,  Dalton Peterson who received a red ribbon in the SMAW division and John Kerwood received a purple ribbon in the GMAW division.  The Fairbury welding team placed 4th overall in the district 5 welding competition.  John Kerwood, Jesse Graves and Brock Barton will represent Fairbury FFA at the 2018 Nebraska State FFA Convention.

The Agronomy team placed 2nd overall and consisted of Ashlee Griffee who recieved a Purple ribbon, Micheala Buchli who received a purple ribbon, Delaney Miller who received a red ribbon, and Tori Likens who received a blue ribbon.  They will represent Fairbury at the state FFA convention.

The Agriscience team two consisted of Harlie Blas and Cashe Kroll who received a blue ribbon and Sarah Engelman who received a red ribbon.  The Agriscience one team consisted of Riley Wood, Taylor Gustafson, Konnor Hasselbring, and Brooklen Bear who all received a red ribbon.

The Ag Sales team placed 4th and qualified for the state FFA convention.  The team consisted of John Kerwood and Devin Wanamaker who received blue ribbons and Kennedy DeBoer and Dalton Peterson who received red ribbons.

Fairbury FFA was represented by one Meats team that consisted of Taylor Runge receiving a Blue Ribbon and Kane Hasselbring, Jared Engelman, and Colton Starck receiving a red ribbon.

The Floriculture team placed 3rd overall and qualified for the state FFA convention. Team members include Jordan Ruhnke and Shavara Kroeker who received a purple ribbons and Brooklen Bear and Paige Livingston who received a blue ribbon.

The Livestock Management team one finished with a red ribbon. Team one consisted of Delaney Miller, Tori Likens, Trevin Arnold, Sarah McCown, Kane Hasselbring . Team two also received a red ribbon and consisted of Taylor Runge, Josie Junker, Colton Starck, Zach Holes, and Logan Slater.

Fairbury was represented by a Vet Science team that placed 5th overall with the team consisting of Paige Livingston who received a purple ribbon, Miranda Heidemann and Sarah McCown receiving a blue ribbon and Jordan Ruhnke receiving a red ribbon.

Fairbury FFA had one Natural Resource team.  This team consisted of Trevin Arnold who placed who received a purple ribbon, Jesse Graves and Jacob Maschmann who received a blue ribbon, and Brock Barton who received a red ribbon.

Fairbury FFA was represented by one Nursery and Landscape team who placed 3rd overall. The team consisted of Jared Engelman who received a purple ribbon and Riley Wood, Harlie Blas and Autumn Branson who received a blue ribbon.

The Fairbury FFA was represented by one Ag Biotech team that placed 3rd overall. The team consisted of Sara Huss placing 1st and receiving a purple ribbon, Autumn Branson and Devin Wanamaker receiving blue ribbons, and Bret Cole receiving a red ribbon.

It was a great day for the Fairbury FFA Chapter and all members had a great experience in developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success.

Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week.  The week-long tradition began in 1947 when the National FFA Board of Directors designated the week of George Washington’s birthday as National FFA Week in recognition of his legacy as an agriculturist and farmer. The first National FFA Week was held in 1948. Today, FFA Week always runs Saturday to Saturday and encompasses Feb. 22, Washington’s birthday.  The Fairbury FFA Chapter celebrated this week in a fashionable and fun way.  

The week started out on Sunday the 18th with our annual FFA Prize Auction.  Members received the amount of money they sold for fruit sales in monopoly money and were able to purchase all sorts of cool prizes in an auction setting.  Mr. Dennis Kenning came in to auctioneer various items off like stocking hats, work gloves, hunting gloves, popcorn, cheese, beef sticks, slippers, and other awesome items.  

Each day then there was a specific theme for the staff and students of the high school to show their FFA pride.  The theme for Monday was America Day as students were able to dress in their best American pride clothing.  Tuesday’s theme was FFA/Farm Shirt day as FFA members dressed in their grey and golden FFA shirts and the rest of the school wore their favorite farm shirt.  Wednesday’s theme was blue and gold/official dress day as FFA members dressed in official dress and were served pizza for lunch.  The rest of the school wore their best blue and gold clothing to represent the colors of FFA, which are National Blue and Corn Gold.  Thursday’s theme was redneck day as students dressed in redneck apparel for the day.  This was also the day for the annual FFA Ag Olympics convocation.

FFA members entertained the student body with multiple activities throughout the afternoon.  The first event of the day was Hungry Horse.  Six teams of two competed where balloons (the Feed) were in the middle of the court and each team had a scooter and a laundry basket to get all their feed in.  One team member was belly down on the scooter and one team member was pushing the feet of the other member (the horse.) The team who collected the most feed (balloons) in their basket won.  

The second event was with six competitors and they matched up to see who made the best donkey noises and the third event was the egg roulette competition where six individuals competed against each other by hitting eggs over their head.  Each dozen of eggs had ten hard-boiled eggs in them and 2 raw eggs.  The first person to crack a raw egg over their opponents head lost and did not move onto the next round.  

The fourth event was FFA Trivia.  Students were chosen at random to see who knew different questions about the National FFA Organization.  

The fifth event of the day was the Hay Bale Relay where a team of four competed to claim the prize of best straw bale hauling team.  

The sixth event was some farm jokes for the student body and the seventh event was the pig herding contest.  Six competitors were dressed up in overalls, farm hats, and also a pig herding panel.  Each competitor had to take their panel and try to herd the white balloons (the pigs)  into the designated barn in the corners of the gym.  Each competitor had two minutes to get as many pigs (balloons) into their barn as possible.  

The eighth event of the day was name that country song where six individuals competed to name an older or current country song.  A small part of the song was played and the first person to write down the correct answer was the winner.  

The ninth and final event of the 2018 Ag Olympics was the cow pie eating contest.  Each of the six contestants had to eat a cowpie (chocolate pudding) on their plate with only their hands mouth.  The catch to the contest was each member wore a nylon stocking over their head to eat their chocolatey cow pie.  This was a very fun but messy way to end the 2018 Agricultural Olympics.  

Friday’s theme was Jeff Pride day as students wore their best crimson and gold apparel for the day.  The teacher’s appreciation breakfast was scheduled for Thursday morning but due to a late start we had to push our breakfast to Monday morning.  

This was the day that the FFA members cooked breakfast for all of the teachers and staff of the Fairbury Public School District and also for any FFA Alumni/supporter.  Members of the FFA started cooking breakfast at 5:00am in the Ag Shop and fed over 60 people throughout the morning.  This is an annual tradition for the Fairbury FFA Chapter that the members enjoy doing because it helps them remember that being of service to others is the main focus of the National FFA Organization.  

February 18th through the 26th was a very busy week for the Fairbury FFA members but all of them enjoyed the fun activities and experiences of the week.  

By Jordan Ruhnke Fairbury FFA Reporter

On January 17, the Fairbury FFA had 17 members attend and compete at the District 5 Leadership Development Event (LDE) in York at the Holthus Center. The members included Taylor Runge, Kaylee Sipek, Jordan Ruhnke, Sara Huss, Brooklen Bear, Delaney Miller, Konnor Hasselbring, Taylor Gustafson, Brock Barton, Autumn Branson, Michaela Buchli, Kaycee Riggle, Riley Wood, Harlie Blas, Cashe Kroll, Sarah McCown, and Paige Livingston. The senior Parliamentary Procedure team, made up of the Fairbury FFA Officers including Michaela Buchli, Paige Livingston, Sarah McCown, Delaney Miller, Jordan Ruhnke, and Brock Barton, earned a blue ribbon. Freshmen, Taylor Gustafson and Riley Wood both received blue ribbons in Creed Speaking. In Junior Public Speaking, freshman Harlie Blas received a red. In Senior Public Speaking, senior, Jordan Ruhnke received a blue ribbon and junior, Michaela Buchli received second purple and is qualified for the Nebraska FFA State Convention in April! Junior, Autumn Branson received a red ribbon in her event Natural Resources. Senior Paige Livingston received a purple in Employment Skills and was only a few points off from qualifying to state! Sophomores, Taylor Runge and Sara Huss also received a purple in Ag Demonstration. They were also only a few points short of qualifying! The junior Parliamentary Procedure team, made up of Taylor Gustafson, Brooklen Bear, Riley Wood, Konnor Hasselbring, Cashe Kroll, Harlie Blas, and Sarah Engelman received a blue ribbon. It was a GREAT day to be a Jeff!

Original Article by Paige Livingston fhsxray https://goo.gl/kaCKUc
Classes at FHS focus on not only learning inside of the classrooms, but outside.
For a new and creative way of looking at the occupations in the agriculture department, ag teacher, Thomas Dux took his block 3/4 students to visit two rural vet clinics in town.
On December 5, they went to both the Countryside Vet Clinic and Fairbury Animal Clinic here in town.

“I just wanted to get the kids out to industry vet clinics in town so they could see what the typical everyday occurrence is. This way they get a glimpse into that career and if they want to continue it or not,” Dux said.
In the future, Dux plans on continuing the outing with his Ag Science and Technology crew.

On October 24th at midnight, the Fairbury FFA Chapter set out from Lincoln on their way to the 90th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. In attendance from the Fairbury Chapter were Sarah McCown, Brock Barton, Olivia Koop, Kane Hasselbring, Delaney Miller, Kaylee Sipek, Michaela Buchli, Bryn Livingston, and Trevin Arnold. While they were there, the group of nine, plus advisor Thomas Dux, attended various workshops and fairs.

There is a large career fair held in the convention center each year, where various businesses and colleges have booths to give the FFA kids a chance to learn more about agricultural opportunities.  They also had the chance to take a tour of the Dallara Indycar factory where students were able ride in an Indycar.  Unique to the state of Nebraska, the Nebraska chapters sponsor a dance on two nights of convention that are only for Nebraska FFA students. The Fairbury FFA chapter attended both of these dances, and enjoyed meeting and visiting with students from other chapters closer to home.

Fairbury graduate Cody Huss also received the American FFA Degree.  The American FFA Degree is a sign of great accomplishment and only a small percent of FFA members ever earn this degree.  There are numerous requirements for FFA members as one of them is members have to have earned at least $10,000 or productively invested $7,500 into their Supervised Agricultural Experience Program.  Congratulations to Cody on this huge accomplishment.  

It was a full week, but they all enjoyed venturing outside the comfort of home and into the sea of blue.

 

On Wednesday, September 13, the Fairbury FFA chapter attended Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island. A total of 38 members attended to learn more about the different careers in agriculture. Along with great experiences and talking to experienced workers in the ag field, there were many different opportunities to meet new people from other chapters, see some old friends, and gather great souvenirs from every agribusiness company. It was an educational day for all of the Fairbury FFA members to learn more about the future of agriculture.

 

by Nichole Harris ~ FHS Xray

Amid all the renovations and new policies at school this year, the FHS administration has also come up with new ways to recognize academic success in the student body. One of these ways was to begin a new program called ‘Student of the Month,’ where two high school students will be honored each month for showing excellence in and out of the classroom. These students are voted on by the teachers.

“Through our shared document for the JEFF program, teachers can make a nomination.” Principal Nicholas Kroon said, “If we have multiple nominations, I will put a vote out to the teachers to determine student of the month.”

Kicking off the year are September students of the month Jacob Johnson ’18 and Macy Ohlde ’18. Congratulations, Jacob and Macy!

Original Article:  https://fhsxray.com/2017/10/03/fhs-recognizes-excellence-in-students/

Despite heavy rains and power outages in our area, Fairbury Skills USA students traveled to SCC in Lincoln Nebraska for their annual Fall Leadership Conference.  

The purpose of the conference is to kick off another year and to give students ideas and to make friends all while developing a new skill.  It is here that they start thinking about what they want to study.  What skill do they want to pursue?  

Sixteen students took part in early morning breakout sessions.  Students learned about leadership, fundraising, how to write resumes, and communication skills.   Advisors also had a meeting and discussed new changes coming down the pipe.  

Students each received a conference T-shirt with industry sponsors on the back.  It is these sponsors that give students opportunities with scholarships, prizes and help with the State Leadership Conference later in the year. China scholarship council also plays a pivotal role in shaping the academic “dreams” of the students.

Fairbury students also could sign up for industry tours.  We went on a nice tour of Kawasaki.  Kawasaki has over 2 million square feet of space under one roof.  Students got to see most of the processes used in manufacturing.  They witnessed robots that weld, position parts, move heavy objects or even paint parts.  A new dipping process was observed where any picture can be dip coated and adhered to the fenders.  The process works where a thin film of the graphic material is floated on a tank of water.  A technician then fine tunes the location of the film on the water’s surface.  A robot then dips the part and the image is bonded to the part.  

Kawasaki is a big plant.  They have over 200 employees.  We saw people riding bikes in the factory it was so big to get from one place to  another.  It was amazing to see all the people and departments.  Kawasaki makes speed train cars, motorcycles, jet skis, 4 wheeler ATV’s, and even has an aerospace division.  We didn’t have time to go         into the part of the plant that makes the wheels.  Kawasaki makes wheels for many other companies like Honda, John Deere, Suzuki and many more.  I thought it was neat when one student asked why they built the plant in Lincoln, Nebraska.  He said it was central to the United States, it had good roads close by and train rails.  The most important reason was that in the Midwest, we have the best workers.  

Students learned about many jobs available at the plant and what skills those workers should have.  They also learned that welders are in high demand.  One must be at least 18 years of age to get a job.  One can apply right on line.  Students that have a two-year degree are more apt to land a good job.  They spoke of good qualities that workers should have such as being dependable and being a hard worker.  Students got to see a museum in the plant of many of the motorcycles, jet skis, and ATV’s that Kawasaki produced dating back to the early 80’s.