Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008

FFA chapter will feed teachers to launch week's observance at Jefferson West High School

by Clarke Davis

Angela Massengill, a senior, heads the Jefferson West High School FFA chapter as its president this year.

Topping her agenda is serving breakfast to the faculty Monday morning prior to in-service classes.

Massengill

It’s something the chapter does each year to kick off FFA Week and show its appreciation to thefaculty and staff of the school. The special week will end Saturday, Feb. 23, with a ski trip to Snow Creek in Missouri.

Massengill has been an FFA member all four years she’s been in high school and has found it to be a valuable program in many ways.

She is not a farm girl and does not compete in the animal judging teams and other farm-oriented activities. However she has found serving as an officer and taking public speaking has improved her ability to speak before groups and take a leadership role.

The project she is most proud of is the development of an anti-bullying campaign the FFA designed when she was a sophomore.

“It’s a seven-week program that we take the second-graders each year,” she said.

It was the “introduction to ag” class that first created Angela’s interest in the FFA as well as the fact that “everybody loves Mr. Buss,” she said, referring to adviser Steve Buss.

Jefferson West will be host to Super Day April 9 when the 23 northeast Kansas FFA chapters descend on Meriden. There will be approximately 400 students present to compete in contests.

A new greenhouse has been built on the school campus and is now supplementing a middle school landscaping class, an environmental science class, plant and soils class, and the introduction to ag. class.

“We’ve grown some things from seed, made some cuttings, and are creating some flower baskets that will be for sale in April and May,” Buss, a 14-year veteran of the program, said.

He said the students are already getting an education in plant disease, fertilizer rates, and the wrong insects that show up.

“Next year we hope to start a horticulture class,” he said.

The baskets will be marketed to the public to help support the greenhouse. Buss said it will cost more than $3,000 to supply the greenhouse each year and we want it to be somewhat self-supporting.

Also new for the FFA is a trophy case located in the high school. About 30 years of trophies have been shined up by Jimmy Lohrbach, a custodian at the school, and put on display.

Massengill’s first choice in colleges is Middle Tennessee State, an area of Tennessee where she has lots of family members living. Her second choice will be Kansas University to study business and art. Her parents are Kim and Hank Halseth.