South Dakota FFA Foundation, Inc.
SD FFA Foundation Email Newsletter ~ | ~ Volume 8, Issue 4 ~ | ~ October 2017

Follow us on
Facebook!

facebook

The SD FFA Email Newsletter highlights special projects of the SD FFA and SD FFA Foundation.  Please forward this newsletter to others you know who are involved and interested in FFA and agriculture education. Thank you for your support of the FFA in South Dakota!I can. We will.

Director’s Message:

Director’s Message:  It's that time of the FFA calendar, when about 600 SD FFA members hop on a bus, plane or suburban to National FFA Convention. This year it is back in Indianapolis, IN.  Many of our students will be competing for awards and scholarships. Others will be learning about how to be a leader in their communities, learning about the ag industry, completing service projects and creating lifelong memories. Please contact your local advisor to see how you can help transform the lives of SD's young people by developing their premier leadership, personal growth, and career success.

Gerri Ann Eide, Executive Director, SD FFA Foundation, Inc.

You Change Lives!

EVERY donation, big or small, individual or corporate, is valued by the SD FFA Foundation and the members it impacts. Thank you for your contribution - it helped change the lives of FFA members! Corbin

Corbin Kramer, Philip Jr. say, “Going to FFA camps and meeting people from all over and doing Job Interview helped me be comfortable talking to people and expand my ‘family’. Riding the state bus to National Convention, I met people from neighboring communities in FFA that are now some of my best friends. All of these experiences helped me be more social, as I used to be very shy.”

donate

Upcoming events:

  • October 25-28 - National FFA Convention, Indianapolis, Indiana

  • November 2 – Jackrabbit Invite Leadership CDE, Brookings

  • November 6 – District 1 CDE’s, Watertown
    District 2 CDE’s, Brookings

  • November 8 – District 6 CDE’s, Miller

  • November 13 - Districts 4 Leadership CDE's, Mitchell

  • November – Other District FFA Leadership Career Development Events - dates coming!

  • November 17 – All State Leadership CDE paperwork due, Brookings

  • December 3-4 - State Leadership Career Development Events, Pierre

SOUTH DAKOTA FFA FOUNDATION RECEIVES $65,000 FROM DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE

The South Dakota FFA Foundation celebrates a donation of $65,000 from Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC. The funds will be used to benefit local youth in the thirteen South Dakota counties the pipeline traverses, as well as students across the state through conference sponsorships.

Dakota Access Pipeline is giving the organization $5,000 per county the pipeline traverses in South Dakota, totaling thirteen counties at $65,000. In an effort to support youth programs in counties along the entire four-state pipeline route, Dakota Access will be making similar donations in North Dakota, Iowa and Illinois totaling more than $400,000.

“We greatly appreciate Dakota Access Pipeline’s investment in building leaders, growing communities, and strengthening South Dakota agriculture through the SD FFA Foundation.  Their support will have a ripple effect: impacting local, area, and state level FFA events, all of which enhance our individual FFA members’ leadership development," said Gerri Ann Eide, SD FFA Foundation Executive Director. "This partnership will allow us to provide valuable student opportunities and we are pleased to highlight the great work we can achieve together."

Dakota Access Pipeline sponsors SD FFA

I Can. We Will.

Members Discover I CAN. WE WILL. TOGETHER we are Stronger.

I remember the 1st time I stepped into a National FFA Convention session as a high school freshman, in Kansas City, MO.  The growth I experienced from those four days changed my life - built self-confidence, amplified my interest and motivation, introduced me to others interested in agriculture, and taught me: I CAN lead.  WE WILL succeed. TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER at promoting agriculture.

The experience, and the teachers there guiding me - Ms. Julie (Leier) Mueller, Highmore & Mr. Todd Marks, Harrisburg- made a life-long impact.  My son experiences it this year – I hope it is as profoundly life changing for him and all students that attend this year as it was for me.

Oct. 25-28 is the 90th National FFA Convention, in Indianapolis, IN. For those of us who can’t make it there in person, we can watch, read and follow it! Use FFA.org/convention, Facebook, Twitter, the national convention app on your smart phone, or RFD-TV LIVE found on DirecTV channel 345 and Dish Network channel 231, 9398 and 231 HD http://www.rfdtv.com . The convention and expo will be bigger and better than ever.  A few of the highlights include:

  • 2 SD proficiency finalists –
    Kohl Michael Miller - McCook Central, Diversified Horticulture – E/P
    Jaclynn Knutson – Viborg, Grain Production - Entrepreneurship
  • 15 agriscience fair finalist projects
  • National Chapter award winners including 2-Star Chapters: Winner, and 1-Star Chapters: McCook Central & Viborg-Hurley
  • 4 SD band members
  • 2 SD chorus member
  • 22 SD Career Development Event teams
  • 38 SD American Degree recipients
    • Clear Lake: Rachel Baer
    • Lemmon: Bailie Jean Beer
    • McCook Central: Ryan Butzke, Kylar Hansen, Julia Loudenburg, Cara Rabenhorst, Hunter Rother, Jordan Scheier, Branden Stone
    • Winner: Calah Covey, Peyton Eagle, Nickales Hossle, Samuel Hossle, Lucas Jedlicki, Lesley Soles
    • Florence: Zach Grygiel, Emily Kahnke
    • West Central: Quin Hanisch, Weston Hanisch, Austin Ideker, Rachel Kapperman, Alex Klein, Erica Lorang, Jordan Lueth, Cody Pearson, Braden Pirrung, Cory Smith, Ryan Titus, Kyle Vockrodt
    • Huron: Braedon Hinker
    • Redfield: Jordanne Howe
    • Duebrook: Jeanette Klein
    • Elkton: Matthew Leiferman
    • Sanborn Central/Woonsocket: Jonathan Linke
    • DeSmet: Andrea Schubloom
    • Howard: Brandon Schwader
    • Gettysburg: Alison Simon
    • Kimball: Alex Toupal
  • SD's national officer candidate Alison Simon, Gettysburg
  • Great motivational speakers
  • Rascal Flatts and Runaway June in concerts
  • Leadership & Career Development workshops
  • Rodeo
  • National Days of Service
  • Career Success Tours
  • The Expo
With so many amazing events and general sessions happening during the convention & expo, and so many ways to stay in tune with what's going on, it's hard to decide what not to watch!  Check out the convention schedule.

Blue & Gold x 2 - A Winning PartnershipSDSU

September 16, FFA and SDSU – both blue and gold icons - paired up as the Jackrabbits challenged the Drake Bulldogs in the 51st Beef Bowl. Supporters could attend the game and have part of their ticket price to go to the SD FFA Foundation. SDSU and FFA both won: SDSU came out on top with a score of 51-10, and the South Dakota FFA Foundation raised funds to impact South Dakota FFA members! Thanks to all who attended!

Thanks Zoetis for your local chapter support!

45 South Dakota FFA chapters will receive checks this fall totaling nearly $ $48,821 from purchases made by South Dakota veterinarians and animal health suppliers of Zoetis products during their spring promotion period.  To participate, local Zoetis Beef/Equine reps enrolled veterinary clinics and animal health suppliers in the program.  Enrolled suppliers inform their Zoetis reps that the following chapters should receive funds. 
zoetis

MadisonLiving to Serve

Service is a core value taught to SD's almost 6,000 high school Agriculture Education students through their FFA participation. The SD FFA Foundation recognizes the value of local chapter service learning projects, and wants to enable Agriculture Education programs to focus on student and community development. As a result, we started a program providing up to $500/chapter for service projects in their local communities, as a special project of the SD FFA Foundation. Congratulations to the following chapter receiving SD FFA Foundation funds this fall for service projects: 

Brandon Valley – construct raised garden bed for school
Hot Springs –repair & maintain the county rodeo arena fences and bucking chutes
Madison- Farm safety camp
Redfield – build bean bag boards for local Shriners & Masons
Sunshine Bible – construct a brick patio alumni park with benches & cast iron crusader
Wolsey Wessington – Community tailgate event showcasing new school mascot statue
Winner – War on Hunger, Meals of Hope service project
Yankton – construct raised garden project for elementary
Madison

SD FFA chapters win trip to Oklahoma      

Fall is the time FFA members learn to identify land characteristics and slope, range plants and growth patterns, and how to be good stewards of these resources, managing them for the future. Congratulations to the 5 Land teams: Sturgis, Highmore, McCook Central, Willow Lake, and Lennox and 3 Range teams: Hitchcock-Tulare, Kadoka, and Webster-Waubay that won their Regional FFA events. They will advance to national competition next May in Oklahoma City.

Thanks to our scholarship sponsors:

LeRoy and Cathie Draine, Black Hawk, SD, sponsor $100 scholarships for the 1st place range judging individuals (Dalton Howe, Redfield; Anna Beer, Lemmon and Grady Maaland, Deuel)

The SD Soil Health Coalition sponsors $100 scholarships for the 1st place land judging individuals (Gayge Schopp - Lemmon, Sydney Maro,  Highmore, Jacob Prouty,  Willow Lake, and Emily Bies, McCook Central) 

We are seeking sponsors for travel scholarships for these teams.

FFA members Earn Blue Jackets  - Bright Futures 

To it's owner, the FFA jacket is a physical reminder of the personal accomplishments achieved through the organization - a symbol of commitment and dedication for all who wear the corduroy.

This October the SD FFA Foundation awarded a record breaking 343 FFA members from 62 FFA chapters jackets through the SD FFA Foundation Blue Jackets Bright Futures FFA Jacket Program - carrying forward that long-standing tradition of pride, dignity and honor.  Thanks to everyone who helped sponsor a jacket, welcoming new members into the fabric of FFA.  Click here to see the winners!
jacket

What happens with an attitude of I CAN.  WE WILLI can. We will.

In 2016-17 your contributions to the SD FFA Foundation helped:
STRENGTHEN PROGRAMS:

  • State fair programming
  • Ag Adventure Center advocates for modern agriculture
  • District officer training
  • Summer Leadership Retreats
  • State Leadership Career Development Events
  • State officer travel to chapters
  • State Convention programming

PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES:

  • Jackets for FFA members
  • scholarships for graduating seniors, including 4 new ones
  • Outstanding Supervised Agriculture Experience programs recognition
  • travel scholarships for state winning teams advancing to nationals
  • Washington Leadership Conference scholarships and state bus
  • Leadership Retreat scholarships
  • Grants for chapter service projects

STRENGTHEN TEACHERS:

  • provided funds for instructor training
  • recognized outstanding teachers

BUILD FUTURE TEACHERS:

  • student teachers attended Ag Tech Teacher Conference
  • hosted a recruitment event for high school students considering agriculture education as a career

CONNECTING ALUMNI:

  • Hosted Alumni events at State Leadership Career Development Events, State Fair and State FFA Convention

EDUCATING POSTSECONDARY STUDENTS

  • College students attended leadership conferences
  • Scholarships for students studying agriculture

K bar JFeatured Fundraisers

SD FFA Leather Collection
The SD FFA Foundation has partnered with K Bar J Leather of Newell, SD to offer a selection of beautiful high quality leather items.  They are being marketed with the FFA logo at National FFA Convention and awarded to the State Leadership CDE winners this fall.  They can be ordered with custom logos for promotional use by businesses … talk to your boss about utilizing them as holiday gifts around the office!
Click here to see more of our products!


Leave a Legacy
Did you know we accept non-cash gifts such as equipment, land and grain? If you still happen to have some of last year's harvest left in your bins and are struggling to determine how to handle it, we would love to talk to you about helping FFA members achieve the yield of Premier Leadership! The process is simple and only takes a minute to complete--we are here to help you make it happen

SD FFA Foundation

Plan a gift to the SD FFA Foundation
in your annual budget.


You can donate online here or mail a donation to: SD FFA Foundation, 39393 133rd St., Bath, SD 57427


For more information, please contact gerri@sdffafoundation.org. or call (605) 765-4865
© 2017 South Dakota FFA Foundation, Inc. 

Subscribe to the SD FFA Foundation mailing list

* indicates required