SAE Visit #2

For my second SAE visit, I had the chance to visit  Brittany Chason at her job at Bortnick’s Dairy. Brittany is a senior who has been active in FFA throughout all four years of high school and serves as the chapter secretary this year. She has a placement SAE and gets paid for her time milking cattle. The visit occurred at Bortnick’s farm in the parlor! The farm is a local dairy where they milk over a thousand cattle a day. They also have a bio-digester on the farm that I got to check out on my visit as well!

Before the visit we had to make preparations both with Brittany and her boss to make sure it was alright for us to visit. We made sure we had everything we needed and headed to the farm! Brittany works in the
second parlor on the farm which is the smaller of the two. She has to milk, make sure the cattle are healthy

and make sure the barn is clean!

For this SAE I think it is important to evaluate the student on their work, an evaluation from their boss and their record keeping. Brittany uses AET to keep track of her time, her activities and her income at Bortnick’s farm. This was an area where recommendations were being made. We talked to the student about the importance of keeping up to date with records and encouraged her to enter her work to AET more frequently. 

I was unsure about how placement SAE’s worked so getting to go along and observe on the visit was great. I think that placement SAE’s can be perfect for students who do not raise animals or maybe want to try something different! 
 

The First SAE Visit!

On Wednesday, February 11th I had the chance to do my first SAE Visit of the semester! We went to visit TJ, a sophomore student who is doing an SAE project on his sows. TJ is an active Ag student who is also serving as an FFA officer this year. Our visit occurred at TJ’s home where we had the chance to meet his parents and brother while we were checking out the animals!

Before we went to visit we asked the student what dates worked best for them. We scheduled the visit and checked with both the student and parents to make sure it would work! We discussed what the student’s project was and about what we were going to look for while we were there. Some of the things that the students SAE would be evaluated on are the facilities, the animals and the future plans he has for his project and the success he has had so far. 

On Wednesday, my cooperating teacher Ms Aurand, the other FFA advisor Frank Bizjak and I loaded up in the FFA van and headed out to TJ’s home! We had the chance to talk to TJ and his family about the sows and the piglets and I even got to hold one of the cute little babies! One of the recommendations that were discussed during the visit was a suggestion to improve the facilities such as adding some more ventilation. We also had the chance to discuss TJ’s plans for all of the piglets once they are grown! 


Ms Aurand grades the students on their SAE projects through AET. Along with having at least one SAE visit, the students are required to keep records in AET. Each semester a portion of their class grade is based off of their daily records. All of the students are required to enter at least one entry per day throughout the entire school year. 

I truly enjoyed this SAE visit because it gave me the chance to see the students are work outside of the classroom. It was also great to get to meet some parents and get out into the community a little more! 

My first Mid-Winter Convention!

I have attended the Pennsylvania State Farm Show every year since I was born, but this trip was different than any other. After spending a few days at the show with my cousins, I took on a new role Sunday night. I met up with Ms. Aurand, Mr. Bizjak and over twenty members of the Conneaut Area FFA. I was officially a student teacher.

Sunday night we spent time eating dinner, doing homework and most importantly practicing square dancing! Early Monday morning the students were lined up in the hall with their official dress on ready for the big day! We headed to the farm show complex and I was ready for my first Mid-Winter Convention ever.

It was not only an exciting day for me, it was a big day for the whole Conneaut Area FFA Chapter. 11 students got to put on their own FFA jacket for the first time, 3 students received their Keystone Degree and we even had 1 student who was an Agri-Business Star Finalist.

That evening 17 students from the FFA Chapter competed in the square dance competition. Students have been practicing the past few months and had the chance to demonstrate 5 dances Monday night. We walked away with two red ribbons!

We also participated in the #todaysFFA Social Media contest. This was my first official student teaching assignment! Our students told their Farm Show story on Facebook and Twitter with pictures and the hashtag #todaysFFA. Our chapter had the most views and post which means that we won the contest! We are looking forward to our pizza party with the State Officers!

Tuesday we spent the day traveling around doing tours of industries in the area. We started at Kreider Farms in Lancaster County. We saw the facilities where they raise 6 million chickens and milk over 1500 dairy cows on a carousel parlor. We then went to Zimmermans, a corporation that is made up of three businesses; Keystone Coating, PBZ Cattle Equipment and Crop Care. After this we toured Uncle Henry’s Pretzels and stopped at Cabelas. Wednesday we loaded up the bus and headed to Hershey to tour Chocolate World. After spending some time there we began the 5 hour bus ride home.

Overall, my first Mid-Winter Convention was a great one and a great way to kick off my student teaching experience.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

My First National Convention

Every year, my dad would gather my whole family around the TV so we could all watch the National FFA Convention. This happened every year for as long as I can remember and I never imagined I would actually go. This year I got to attend my first National FFA Convention with the advisors and students of Conneaut Area FFA which is where I will be student teaching this spring! 

I had such an incredible experience and it proved to me that a career in Agriculture Education is exactly what I want to do! Check out this video of some highlights from our trip!! 

Thank you Ms. Aurand, Mr. Bizjak and the students of Conneaut Area FFA for making first National Convention a great one!