Proficiency winners

The Ohio FFA Association sponsors the National Proficiency Award Program each year. This program is designed to recognize student success in their Supervised Agriculture experience in one or more of the 47 recognized competition divisions.

The Cardington FFA has four students recognized as state finalists in their specific area.

This means they placed as one of the top four individuals in their area. Once they reached this distinction, they interviewed with a panel of industry judges to determine their final placements.

Three of those members, Isabelle Crum, Alexis Crone and Hazel Jolliff were named State Proficiency Champions in the state of Ohio, giving them the opportunity to represent Ohio and the Cardington FFA in the national competition this summer.

Crum, the State Winner of the Landscape Management Proficiency Award area, was recognized for her work at Slack’s Singing Springs Nursery where she has been employed since she was a sophomore in high school. She helps manage the operation, runs the cash register and assists with customer service, designs greenhouse layout, transports trees and other landscape plants to customer locations in the company truck, consults with customers on design and property layout, propagates and does germination tests on plants.

The chapter thanks Gale Slack for his support of Isabelle and her application.

Crone, the state winner of the Specialty Animal Production Proficiency Award area, was recognized for her entrepreneurial work with her own business, ABC Honey. In this operation, Alexis manages three honeybee hives that she owns and she is in charge of hive maintenance and bee health.

Alexis conducts research on pollen uses and regularly attends Beekeeper Association meetings and conventions. She has won several scholarship for her work and speaks and facilitates workshops for other beekeepers.

Jolliff, the state winner of the Nursery Operations Proficiency Award area was recognized for her placement and entrepreneurial work at Lincolnshire Farm Greenhouse. She began working at Lincolnshire farm as an employee, caring for plants, assisting with customer service, sorted seeds and cleaned the facility. Later, Hazel transitioned into a partial owner of the greenhouse absorbing one half of the assets and liabilities.

The chapter also recognizes Madeline Franks, who placed third in Ohio for her work in the Veterinary Science Proficiency Award area. Mady is volunteer at Castleton Way Veterinary Clinic where she creates custom tags for the patients, assists in general animal care and manages tasks in the kennel.

State convention

The Cardington FFA Chapter celebrated the 93rd Ohio FFA State Convention at the Cardington Church of the Nazarene, an event normally held at Columbus.

There were 46 members of the Cardington FFA attending the Cardington Church of the Nazarene to celebrate the convention and students also completed a service project on Thursday when they made dog toys out of recycled T-shirts to donate to the Morrow County Humane Society.

Students also enjoyed watching the four sessions and celebrating the successes of their fellow members.

Highlighted during the State Convention were State FFA Degrees, Proficiency Award Winners, National Chapter Results, Gold Rated Officers and Charitable donations by chapters. Cardington was celebrated in all of these areas.

The Cardington Chapter was recognized as a Top 10 Overall Chapter in Ohio out of over 314 chapters and was named one of the Top 10 Premier Chapters in all three competitive areas: Building Communities, Growing Leaders and Strengthening Agriculture.

They will move on to represent Ohio on the national level this Fall. Cardington was also named a State Gold Rated Chapter (Top 10 percent of chapters in Ohio). Lastly, as a chapter distinction Cardington was recognized on the state level for their charitable contributions to St. Jude’s Cancer Research Hospital and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Members also found individual successes at the 93rd FFA State Convention.

Three members were recognized as State Gold Rated Officers and earned perfect scores on their submitted records at the state evaluations. They kept accurate records throughout the year of membership participation, dues, the program of activities, photos, news articles, correspondence, etc. Isabelle Crum was named a State Gold Rated Treasurer; Brook Clapham was named a State Gold Rated Reporter and Bryce Moodispaugh was named a State Gold Rated Secretary.

During the second general session of the convention, the golden charm of the State FFA Degree was bestowed upon an elite two percent of FFA members across Ohio. These members have completed adequate amounts of community service, demonstrated commitment to the local FFA Chapter and productively invested $3,000 or more into their supervised agricultural experience. This year, the Cardington FFA has nine members receive this esteemed degree.

This is the highest degree that the Ohio FFA can bestow upon its members. Recipients are Emma Burchett, Justin Radel, Cameron Kinsey, Brooke Clapham, Hazel Joliff, Catilyn Sherman, Madeline Franks, Brice Jenkins and Luke Goers.

Cardington FFA proficiency winners, from left: Alexis Crone, Hazel Jolliff, FFA advisor, Erin Wollett, Isabelle Crum and Madeline Franks.
https://www.morrowcountysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2021/05/web1_Proficiency-Award-winners-2021.jpgCardington FFA proficiency winners, from left: Alexis Crone, Hazel Jolliff, FFA advisor, Erin Wollett, Isabelle Crum and Madeline Franks. Courtesy photo

By Hazel Jolliff

FFA reporter