Dayton FFA Chapter has been busy

By Elsie Mann

FFA Reporter

DAYTON–The Dayton FFA chapter has had an exceptional year so far under the new leadership of Advisor and Ag Teacher Melanie Morgan. The chapter has been demonstrating hard work and dedication at numerous local events.

The team took two pigs, a lamb, and a steer to the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days, where they showcased their skills and earned well-deserved recognition. Kaelie Jonas and Elsie Mann did well, each earning the Grand Champion FFA Market title for their respective categories. Kaelie won with her market lamb, while Elsie with her market steer. Gloree Grace and Wyntr McCauley showcased their market hogs, contributing to the team's overall success.

The winning streak continued at the Columbia County Fair. Gloree returned to the ring with her second hog, joined by Raymond Yutzy and his goat, Graci Turner and her heifer, and Anthony Jonas with a lamb. Anthony secured the Grand Champion FFA Market Lamb title and took home the Grand Champion FFA Showman award. Adding to the chapter's awards, Graci Turner won first place with her record book. The team also put on a donation fundraising breakfast at the Columbia County Fair which was sponsored by Ag Farm Credit Services. This year, Dayton FFA has set the bar high, proving that with dedication, hard work and a sense of team spirit, great things can be achieved!

When the school year started, the FFA chapter ran the concession stand for all home football games. This not only brings community involvement, but shows the FFA team's commitment to the school.

In addition to other activities, FFA re-launched a Floral of the Month Club, with a collaboration between our floral class. This initiative not only serves as a fundraiser but also provides our students with hands-on experience working with flowers. Each month, we create and sell between 25-30 beautiful arrangements.

In September, the FFA judging team ventured to the Central Washington State Fair in Yakima for a livestock judging event. The team's hard work led to an impressive 5th place overall finish, bringing home the first team banner for Dayton FFA in over half a decade.

October was a busy month for FFA as well. The Soils Evaluation team participated in two different soil competitions demonstrating their knowledge and passion for agriculture. Additionally, 14 local members attended the Washington State Evergreen Tour in Colfax. There they attended workshops put on by the Washington State FFA officers, gaining valuable insights and experiences. In November, we had a successful year of bough cutting. We gathered the materials to create and sell as a fundraiser Christmas wreaths. Thank you to the Brenner family for allowing us to gather the boughs from their property. This proved to be a successful fundraiser as students managed to sell and make more than twice the amount of last year.

The first project of our AG leadership class was a "Locals Eat Local" event. It was a by-donation event where students (Elsie Mann, Wyntr McCauley, Kaelie Jonas) prepared and served a meal (tacos, mint and honey lemonade, and apple pie) to our local community. A concerted effort was made to source as many ingredients as possible from Columbia County. Though it proved more challenging than anticipated, students managed to source some additional ingredients from Blue Mountain Station. The only ingredient that didn't come from Washington were the lemons. Despite the challenges, it was a great learning experience for the students.

FFA Members also designed and decorated a float to be a part of the Dayton Christmas Kick-Off Parade. The trailer and pickup used to pull the float was donated by Kyle Taylor. Our Chapter is greatly appreciative of everyone in the community who has donated their time and /or materials to help our program grow and be successful.

Our FFA community is proud to highlight the achievements of our trapshooting team so far. We have six students, who have participated in three trap shoots. Beginning February 3rd, they will be competing every Saturday for seven weeks, leading up to the state contest in April. At the Warden trapshoot, Andrew Wertz earned top Individual Shooter, and our team earned a respectable fourth place overall. The Lind-Ritzville event also brought us success with Byron Collier placing top overall and Rozlyn Magill placing second in the women's division resulting in a tie for 4th place team.

Our FFA scored a major victory with a pickup and trailer grant. Our FFA advisor, Ms. Morgan, applied for and was awarded a $40,000 grant from the Washington FFA Foundation. In the coming months, this grant will be used to purchase a pickup and stock trailer for our program. This grant will provide us with the necessary resources to continue growing and enhancing our FFA program.

Dayton FFA and the Dayton Agricultural Education program have also had the opportunity to partner with the Columbia County Conservation District with the replacement building of our greenhouse. This project started last spring and has provided our students with not only the opportunity to have a new facility to work in but also to learn and work with Ben Kleist who comes in and provides our students with learning opportunities specifically geared towards conservation practices.

Overall we have had a wonderful year so far and looking forward to the semester ahead. Dayton FFA would not be the same without the continued support from our community and for that we thank you!