Est. 1937
DeWitt Central FFA
Advisor, Stationed By The Owl
Define and describe your SAE Project
Favorite Quote
In high school, I was the only girl in my grade that was in Ag class and FFA for the entire fours years of high school. I enjoyed hanging around the guys partially because I grew up with two brothers! As far as CDE's I started out my freshman year with Conduct of Meetings. I went to our practices, but then the day the contest was supposed to be, my mom and brother were flying to Florida to visit my grandparents, so I couldn't compete. I had to bow out and allow the alternate to take my place. I learned a lot from the contest, but just wasn't able to demonstrate what I learned through the competition, unfortunately. The second CDE that I competed in was the Ag. Issues CDE. It was me and four other boys from my grade that discussed the issue of Point and Non-Point Source Water Pollution. We won our district event and advanced to the State competition. We ended up winning the State competition and then competed at Nationals later that Fall. We ended up 11th overall in the nation and was one of my bigger accomplishments in FFA!
I also competed in Livestock Judging all four years of high school. My sophomore year my team got 2nd at the State Livestock Judging contest and had the opportunity to travel to Denver, CO to compete at the National Western Stock Show contest. This was a trip of a lifetime! One of my greatest memories of high school. My oldest brother was also on my team, which even made it more cool! All through high school I judged with one of my brothers. Since we were all two years apart. I judged with my oldest brother when I was a freshman/sophomore and then my younger brother when I was a junior/senior.
"If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said."
Years Teaching: 15 years
HS SAE: Beef and Poultry Production, Agricultural Placement.
HS CDE's: Ag. Issues, Ag Discussion Meet, Team Ag. Sales, Livestock Judging.
Favorite Hobby: Fishing
In high school, my SAE was beef production entrepreneurship and placement. My first or second year in FFA, I showed a steer in the FFA State Fair Carcass Show. However, I had other show steers that I worked with daily, but those were my 4-H projects. I also worked for my parents on our family farm and kept track of unpaid hours. Although, I did not receive payment, I kept track of the hours I spent working on the farm. Tasks included making a lot of fence, moving cows, heat detecting, mowing, raking and baling hay, working cattle (implants, castrate, vaccinate, etc) and much more. This is where I really took an appreciation for our family farm and loved working alongside my siblings and my parents every day. I thank them for teaching me dedication, work ethic, commitment and how to have respect for others.
I also had an SAE that I started my Junior year of high school, which was Poultry Production. I raised market broilers for two years and sold them to neighbors and people within our community. My first year I raised 400 and then increased to 500 the following year for a total of 900 market broilers in two consecutive years. This is where my love for chickens really started. It was a fun SAE that only last 6 weeks from start to finish. I enjoyed the responsibility of the daily chores twice a day and the amount of skills/tactics that I picked up on along the way.
Describe your CDE experiences in FFA
Mrs. Amy Grantz