It seems like the month of September has blown by pretty quickly! It's been a pretty exciting month for the Freehold FFA. We kicked off the year by holding a stand at the Open Space Pace, which is a parade at the Freehold Raceway that is held to celebrate the preservation of the horse farms in Monmouth County. Everyone in attendance had a great time! We got the chance to talk to people about the FFA, looked around at some of the farm animals, and watched a performance by our own Marching Patriots!
We held our first chapter meeting, where our historian Allie Wilson taught us about "Setting Sail in the FFA" and our sentinel Bryanna Dowd did some ice breakers with us.
Our open house was held at Freehold Township High School on the 26th. It was so exciting to talk to the middle school students who are interested in joining the animal and botanical sciences program at FTHS! Our advisor, Brian Ducey, as well as our President, Michaela Kramer, and our Vice President, Rebecah Shanonn, all gave their own speech about our program, the FFA, and what it means to them. It was pretty difficult to cram everyone into the greenhouse and the classroom, and a struggle to get Oliver (our pet rabbit) to come inside, but overall the night was very successful!
Last Wednesday we were paid a visit by Catherine Cincotta, our state reporter and one of my favorite people. She taught us that we are all part of the agricultural "A-Team", and how to use our super-human minds, strength, and hearts. Thank you Catherine for the great lesson!
We wrapped up our events for September on the 28th with a fundraiser. We held a car wash at FTHS for most of the morning. Although the members who came ended up pelting each other with water balloons, we washed cars, enjoyed a sunny day, and had a great time.
The Freehold FFA is getting pretty excited about the month of October! We are holding a "Welcome Freshmen" picnic at the volleyball courts at FTHS on the 8th for all of the new freshmen in the program. There will be a short meeting, followed by food, volleyball, and other games. Chapter Officer Leadership Training and Leadership Experience and Development (COLT/LEAD) will be held on the 11th and 12th. It is run by the NJ FFA Association, and Freehold's officer team is excited to attend! We will hold our annual homecoming tailgate on the 25th in the FTHS parking lot before the homecoming game. And on the 23rd, FTHS will be hosting "Haunted High School" in light of Halloween. In the front of the building by the music wing there will be a haunted house, and by the greenhouse we will have a Halloween craft for the younger kids.
It seems like this is shaping up to be a great year!
Sydney Gavinelli
Freehold FFA Reporter
"Navigate the Blue and Gold"
