During the month of September, the Pitman FFA leaders hosted many events. They held a booth during the club rush that took place on September 6th during lunch. At the booth there were pictures and posters of what FFA does, along with activities and classes that happen. The leaders handed out pamphlets that included information about the club, the information that was included consisted of activities and opportunities that FFA has, such as; different pathways the school offers, Pitman FFA social media accounts, contact information, and a rundown of what the club is about. Along with handing out the pamphlets, the leaders also quizzed students that walked by the booth with FFA-related questions. If answered correctly the students were rewarded with candy. These questions included:
“What are three agricultural careers?”
“What are three animal by-products?”
“What are the national FFA colors?”
Elijah Rhoads, the Pitman FFA Vice-President, commented “The booth was successful since there was a lot of engagement and it was fun to take part in.”
On Sept. 6, our officer team also brought the school supplies that were donated during our school supply drive to Jessica’s house. Once again thank you to everyone who donated to our school supply drive. This will help kids at Jessica's House by having school supplies for this school year. On September 9th, officers set up a booth on back to school night to teach people about FFA. Parents who came were also informed of the curriculum of their kids’ ag classes.
On Sept. 16, Pitman FFA held a tri-tip dinner event for families who bought tickets. It was one of the larger events we’ve held and sold over 700 tri tip dinners and had 100 leftovers for the people who worked those shifts. The shifts consisted of bean filling, meal packaging, cleaning, cooking, and guiding lines.
On Sept. 18, Pitman FFA partnered with our ASB to welcome visitors to our school during Hello Week. This initiative aimed to give everyone a positive start to their day and to brighten their spirits.
During the days of Sept. 20-22, Pitman FFA sent 20 students to Pinecrest for leadership training at Camp Sylvester. The first day of Camp Sylvester on Friday started with Pitman FFA moving into their cabins and registering for the event. Pitman FFA then received their Camp Sylvester shirts before going to the Chance Hall to eat dinner. The last activity on the first night was gathering all FFA groups for the Bonfire and Smores event. Here, students were able to eat delicious smores with their friends while people danced on stage with music. On Saturday, at 5 a.m. half of the Pitman FFA members went fishing in a nearby creek. Then, all Tri-Rivers Section FFA Chapters gathered to eat breakfast, and moved on to the opening ceremonies introducing the event. MJC Ag Ambassadors then came to assist members in many different leadership building activities, which consisted of five different activities over a set of four rotations. These rotations taught members about team coordination, public speaking, and also how to communicate properly with a group that worked to build leadership skills overall. Afterwards, each FFA group did Chapter Enrichment, with Pitman FFA Chapter going to Pinecrest Lake. All FFA Chapters then went to the Chance Hall for dinner before starting sectional bonding, which was hosted by Pitman FFA. The sectional bonding was a game night in which members could play and win fun prizes. The last day of Camp Sylvester started with a flag salute before breakfast. After the breakfast Pitman FFA had helped Camp Sylvester with the day of service, taking down old equipment. At 10:15 AM they had group pictures with the Camp Sylvester T-Shirts and a closing ceremony where Pitman FFA had mentioned that there is a car show on Oct. 27. At 10:45am Pitman had packed up and left for home.
On Sept. 24th, during pride time in all Ag classes, the Pitman FFA held a letter writing to first responders thanking them for their work. All four Ag classes were filled with participants, each holding around 30 each, meaning roughly 120 students participated. Each participant was tasked to write two letters to first responders, which consisted of firefighters, police, and AMR. These letters as mentioned before were thank you letters, the participants had to creatively write thank you, bland letters were given back and asked to be rewritten. Around 240 letters were written and sent.
Rhoads said that “it was heartwarming to see so many people that were thankful for first responders and that the letters were lovely.”
— Article contributed by: Joseph Garcia Hernandez. Giovanni Morgan, Joseph Silveira, Hunter Cooper, Thiago Soltero, and Jayden Hawkins
