Winter 2009 - Louisiana FFA Foundation

Louisiana
Ag Ed News
Winter 2009 Volume 3, Issue 4
2009
PONCHATOULA FFA NAMED NATIONAL
CHAPTER AWARD WINNER
Goodwill Tour INDIANAPOLIS – The Ponchatoula FFA of Ponchatoula, La., was
LifeKnowledge
Applications
named Model of Innovation winner in student development at the
82nd annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.
The nation’s top 10 chapters in the student development division
competed for the award. Ponchatoula FFA received a plaque in an
onstage ceremony during the convention’s second general session
on Thursday, Oct. 22. Top chapters were also selected from chapter
and community development divisions.
Update
Agricultural
Education
Ponchatoula
Million Hour
Challenge
Realizing that a major diversity need within the chapter was going
unmet, the Ponchatoula FFA set out to level the playing field for all
its chapter members through “Lights, Camera, Diversity in Action.”
The program addressed the fact that 20 percent of the chapter
Quebedeaux membership had special needs. Members helped make school
resources available to the special-needs members of the chapter so
that every member could develop a successful supervised
agricultural experience program.
Ponchatoula members in regular classes also attended a sensitivity
workshop to better prepare them to work cooperatively with those
members who are autistic and with special needs. Following the
training, teams of students involving agriculture students and
students with special needs started a successful dog treat enterprise,
which allowed each special needs member in the Ponchatoula FFA to
earn enough funds to purchase their own FFA jacket.
Remembering
Mr.
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
GOODWILL TOUR 2009
Sarah Dyson, Louisiana State FFA Reporter
The 2009 State FFA Officers and State
FFA Executive Secretary, Dr. Ronald
Mayeux departed from the State FFA
office in Baton Rouge at 3:30 pm on
Sunday, November 15 in a fifteenpassenger LSU AgCenter van and
travelled to Welsh, Louisiana. We
met FFA members from Welsh, Elton
and Lacassine at the Bin There
Hunting Camp at 6:00 pm. Mr. Chris
Humble treated us to boiled crawfish
and afterward, we had the
opportunity to do some skeet
shooting with the owners of Bin
There Hunting Camp – Mr. David and
Mr. Laitin Faul. We then “bedded
down” for the night at the camp.
On Monday morning, we ate breakfast at the camp and
visited the Welsh High School FFA Chapter and presented
a skit to FFA members. We then boarded our van and
went to McNeese State University where we visited with
Dr. Chip LeMieux and Mr. Dwight Bertrand and toured the
University Farm. College students joined us on the
tour. Our next stop was Elton High School FFA for lunch
and a program hosted by Ms. Lana Myers and the Elton
High FFA members. It was then on to Evangeline Central
High FFA near Ville Platte, Louisiana. Ms. Natalie Fontenot
and her FFA members enjoyed our skit and participated in a
question and answer session. This was a wonderful and
inspiring experience for all state officers. We then moved
on to Port Barre High School where we met Ms. Tiffany
Gauthier and her FFA officers. Ms. Yvonne Normand,
Career Technical Supervisor for St. Landry Parish, took us
to the Wal Mart Distribution Center near Opelousas for a
tour of that facility. We had dinner at the home of Port Barre FFA member, Taylor Stephens, and
presented our program to their officers. Taylor’s parents were our hosts for dinner and housing.
We woke up early Tuesday morning for a great breakfast hosted by Blake Babin’s mother and
grandmother. We boarded our van and travelled to Erath High School. We met Ms. Rena Bertrand and
Mr. Wayne Mouton and Erath High FFA members and presented a program for them. Our next stop was
the University of Louisiana – Lafayette. We met Dr. Leon Labbe and had lunch with him, Dr. E. Joseph
Savoie, the University President, other ULL dignitaries, and members of the South Louisiana Mid Winter
Fair Association. The association sponsored the luncheon. The group then left Lafayette and travelled to
Continued on next page
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
the State Department of Education in Baton Rouge. The state officers met with Mrs. Debbie Schum, Executive
Director of High School Redesign, Dr. James Owens and Dr. Paul Theriot. We discussed the FFA, agriculture
education and high school redesign.
Wednesday began with breakfast and a program at Denham Springs High School. We met Mrs. Cheryl Page,
Mrs. Connie Parolli and Mrs. Shatona Bingham and FFA members from Denham Springs. Our next visit was to
Walker High School where we met Mrs. Kelly Becnel and her FFA members. We presented a skit to the
members and they asked follow up questions. It was on to Springfield High and Mr. Wayne Oubre and his
members treated us to lunch and we met in the school gym where we presented a program for the
members. Our next stop was Ponchatoula High School. Mrs. Donna Heinrich and many FFA members viewed
our skit and shared ideas with the state officers. Mrs. Dubois was at a national conference during that
week. The group hopped back into our LSU AgCenter van and went to Loranger High School. We met Ms.
Jessie Hoover and Mr. Johnny Santangelo and Loranger High FFA members to present our program to the
members. We left Loranger High to visit Louisiana’s only mushroom farm. We toured Red Hill Mushroom
Farm near Independence, Louisiana. Our tour guides were Mr. Johnny Santangelo and his son Mr. Johnny
Santangelo, Jr. The officers enjoyed the tour of the farm. Ethan Dunn, past state FFA officer, housed us at his
parents’ home and they fed us a great meal that evening.
We left Loranger early Thursday
morning and drove to Creekside Jr. in
Pearl River, LA.
Dr. AnnaBeth
Neason and her FFA members
greeted us with a great
breakfast. We then met in the school
cafeteria for the officers to present
their program to the members. The
members had many questions after
the program. We then had a long trip
to Lockport Middle School in
Lafourche Parish. Mr. James Chris
Head and his FFA members treated us to lunch and then we presented a program for them. We had a good
tour of the facilities at Lockport Middle. We completed our day on Thursday by visiting St. Amant High
School. Mrs. Mandy DeLaune and Mr. Shawn Zeringue and their FFA members greeted us and took us on a tour
of the facility. The advisors and chapter members treated us to supper that night.
When we woke up Friday morning, the state FFA officers realized that this was the last day of Goodwill Tour
2009. We began our day at St. Gabriel, LA at Iberville MSA East. Ms. Camille Talbot and her FFA members
treated us to breakfast and then we presented a program to them in the gym. Ms. Talbot then led us across the
Mississippi River to Plaquemine to visit MSA West. Ms. Amanda Burns and students from MSA West joined
us. The State FFA Officers met FFA members and about 300 other students in the gym. The officers presented
their program to all students and faculty members. It was a great experience. Our next stop was Capitol High
School and Mr. Cade LeJeune and his FFA members. We met in the classroom and presented a program for the
members. We had good interaction between students and the state FFA officers. We ended our day and the
2009 Goodwill Tour at the LSU AgCenter meeting with Dr. Paul Coreil. We had a great discussion about 4-H
and the FFA and how both organizations serve students in Louisiana. Dr. Coreil and the LSU AgCenter are
great supporters of both organizations. We drove back to the FFA office, cleaned the van, and packed for
home. It was a great experience. We thank everyone who helped make Goodwill Tour 2009 a success.
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
APPLICATIONS
Curt Friedel, LSU Agricultural Education
I believe that teaching students
how to complete an application is
a life-long leadership skill.
Whether it is an application for a
job, a loan, or a passport, there is
a good chance your students will
be applying for something after
graduating from high school
As spring approaches with state
degree applications, proficiency
applications, scholarship
applications, officer applications,
etc., we have reason to teach
proper application completion.
Yes, during class. It doesn’t matter
if they are not an FFA member;
they can learn to fill out an
application too!
Here are some LifeKnowledge
lessons to help.
AHS-31 Using Evaluation and
Reflection
AHS-53 SAE Programs and
FFA’s Proficiency Awards
HS-33 Understanding the
Importance of Professional
Ethics
HS-130 Enjoying the Ride—
Keeping Fuel in the Tank
MS-43 Answering Questions
from Others
MS-69 Record Keeping
MS-70 Proficiency Awards and
SAE
REMEMBERING MR. QUEBEDEAUX
Daniel McBride, Houma Today, (Reprinted with permission)
When Debbie Quebedeaux
visited Louisiana on business in
1984, she did not expect to meet
her future husband. She traveled
from Texas to Louisiana’s annual
state convention of the Future
Farmers of America, a nationwide
organization for middle- and highschool students that teaches
agricultural skills. There, while
selling convention T-shirts, one
attendee caught her eye.
Danny Quebedeaux was there as
a coach: He taught students how
to judge horses in competition. But that was not what attracted
Debbie’s attention. It was his carefully put-together outfit.
“He was always a meticulous dresser,” Debbie said. “The boots, the
belt, it all had to match.” He died Oct. 11, family members said,
because of complications involving a lung infection.
Danny changed his outfit about four times that day, she said: from
boots and jeans around the animals to a suit during the awards
ceremony. It is no simple task to keep an outfit clean when
surrounded by livestock. “He had his dirty moments,” Debbie said.
“But when it came to being out in public and being presentable, he
was always dressed to a T.”
The two hit it off. Debbie said the convention ended on a Thursday,
but Danny — who was then an agriculture teacher at East
Thibodaux Junior High — was in Houston on Friday to visit her. The
two were married a year later.
Danny’s careful attention to detail may have been what caught
Debbie’s eye that day in 1984, but his skills extended past his
wardrobe. It was what led him to be such a great coach, well-known
and respected among competitors, and educator. “He gained the
respect of his peer agricultural teachers throughout the United
States,” said Ed Guillot, who was Danny’s principal at East
Thibodaux for more than 15 years. “They knew that if any of his
judging teams were scheduled to compete, that that would be the
team to beat.”
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
EVENTS CALENDAR
Danny specialized in teaching students to judge Paint horses, an
American breed featuring coats with white and dark spots. During a
horse judging event, students typically view multiple horses as the
animals trot about or have riders direct them. The student must
then rank the horses based on their physical characteristics, and
defend those rankings before adult judges. David Boldt, a 4-H
instructor who worked in Lafourche from 1994 to 2007, said Danny
was a coach who not only taught how to rank animals but led his
students to become better speakers.
“Kids don’t like to speak in front of people. Danny had a great knack
for getting those kids to learn to speak in front of people,” Boldt
said. “He was probably one of the best ones in the state that I’ve
ever seen.” Danny’s teams won numerous state, national and
international awards during his 35-year career as an agriculture
teacher, including the 2008 Junior Team World Championship for
Paint horse judging.
January 11 Area III Leadership
CDEs at University of Louisiana at
Lafayette
January 12 Are I Leadership
CDEs at Louisiana Tech University
January 13 Area II Parliamentary
Law Contest at Winnfield H.S.
January 13 Area IV Leadership
CDEs at Louisiana State University
January 19 State Parliamentary
Procedure CDE at LaSAS, Bunkie
January 27 Area II Leadership
CDEs at Lakeview H.S.
February 20-27 FFA Week!
March 17 Area II Spring CDE at
LSU-Alexandria Dean Lee DeWitt
Bldg.
March 26 Area I Spring CDE at
Louisiana Tech University
Danny’s children also became involved: His daughter, Paige, a
sophomore at Thibodaux High, was a member of that 2008 world
championship team. Danny’s son, Cody, now a sociology freshman at
LSU, also competed during high school.“ Both of them have shown
animals since they were 9,” Debbie said. “My daughter still has 3
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years to show. We’re going to continue that on, because that’s what
he’d want us to do.” Though many said Danny’s greatest concerns The News is published and distributed
were his family and horse competitions, he sometimes revealed four times a year. If you have
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Boldt said he was once on a road trip with Danny, and figured the
Dr. Curt Friedel
conversation would grow stale if horses was all they talked about.
School
of
Human Resource Education
“Turns out he had a great big passion for LSU baseball and the New
& Workforce Development
York Yankees,” Boldt said. “We talked a great deal about baseball.
Louisiana State University
He could name pretty much every player on both teams.” Although
142 Old Forestry Building
known by so many for his work at East Thibodaux, 6th Ward Middle
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
School was where Danny worked until the end. He started there
Phone (225) 578-2108
three years ago.
Fax (225) 578-5755
Guillot said Danny showed passion in all areas: his family life, his
professional life and his hobby: horse judging. But it was his ability to
pass these passions on to others that made him unique.
“In his years of teaching, he touched many lives. He went above and
beyond the call of duty,” Guillot said. “Everybody he came into
contact with respected what he had done with kids. He’s one in a
million.”
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Louisiana Ag Ed News is your
newsletter! Please use it to share
information with your agricultural
education colleagues across
Louisiana.
Issues are archived at:
www.lsu.edu/hrleader/aeeyd/
AgEdNewsletter.htm
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UPDATES
Chad Aucoin, Agriculture Education Consultant, Louisiana Department of Education
I hope that everyone is having a great year. It seems that as the years progress, they tend to go all too
fast. The State Department of Education is going through a lot of changes due to the recent budget
cuts which all state agencies have endured. The good news is that Career and Technical Education is
looking very good compared to other departments.
The main change which affects the Office of Career and Technical Education is the fact that it has been
realigned and moved under the umbrella of High School Redesign. As a part of our new role, we have
been included on the initiative which is to increase the High School Graduation Cohort Rate to 80% by
the year 2014. This is a very exciting turn of events due to the fact that CTE is being recognized as one
of the departments which has the ability to help accomplishing this goal. All eyes are on the CTE
programs in every school in the state, and we are ready to take on the challenge. People are finding
out what we have always known; CTE courses
have the ability to capture the interest of
students which helps to makes them more
interested in learning.
Our plan is to
accomplish this is by increasing the number of
IBC’s earned by students, increase the
number of dual enrollment and articulated
credits, and by showing students the value
which CTE courses have as it pertains to their
future plans. Our belief is that, by offering
students tangible certification and college
credit, students will take more pride in their
accomplishments and set goals for themselves.
You will hear more about this initiative during
the course of the next few weeks.
The CTE Staff will attend the State Counselor’s Conference in Marksville during December 1-3, 2009.
Our goal is to educate Counselors about our programs. This is an excellent opportunity for us to
showcase CTE to the people who tend to influence the type of students we have in our programs. For
this conference, I have asked several people from our Agriculture Education Community to represent
us. These people will showcase their programs and give a presentation to better educate counselors
on what Agriculture Education have to offer all students. Allan Miller from Rayne High School and his
students will showcase the CASE program.
Dustin Moreau from LASAS will showcase the
Veterinarian Assistant Program. To cap it off, Dr. Mayeau and several State FFA Officers will showcase
the Louisiana FFA. We are looking forward to this conference, and feel that it will give us the ability to
show that we have quality programs throughout the state.
As far as for Agriculture Education, we have several items which are on the horizon. The CASE Plant
Science Curriculum is going very well, and we are looking at adding more schools for next year. Our
own Misty Thibodeaux from Lake Arthur had the opportunity to write CASE curriculum in Indianapolis
earlier this year. Allan Miller, Rayne High School, is also having success with the CASE Plant Science
curriculum. For more information about CASE, please feel free to contact me at the State
Department. I will be happy to answer your questions.
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L o u i s i a n a Ag Ed News
PONCHATOULA HIGH SCHOOL FFA WINS MILLION HOUR CHALLENGE
INDIANAPOLIS –The Ponchatoula High School
FFA Chapter in Ponchatoula, Louisiana
contributed 3468 hours to the National FFA
Organization’s Million Hour Challenge project in
the Education category. The project encourages
FFA members to participate in community
service projects and to help FFA reach a goal of
contributing more than one million service
hours nation-wide.
Ponchatoula chapter members, led by FFA
advisor Alice Dubois, planned and presented a
conference to teach students, advisors and
college students about the importance of
appreciating and accepting diversity. In addition, they produced and distributed a video about their
Special Treats Company—a small business that utilized the skills of special needs students in
manufacturing and selling dog treats— to encourage other
FFA chapters to start their own inclusion programs. They
earned a $2500 grant for their FFA chapter through their
efforts. Further, students maled king cakes for our Mardi
Gras in Iraq project to send some Mardi Gras cheer to our
soldiers and let them know how much we appreciate the
sacrifices they are making to keep us free.
Other projects included the Adopt-A-Family Project, where
Ponchatoula FFA adopted 15 needy families in the
Ponchatoula-Hammond area and provided Christmas for 56 people. In this picture FFA members are
loading toys and bikes for the trip to the United Way. Also, Ponchatoula FFA members conducted
Project AGGIE (Agriscience students Giving Guidance In Education) for over 600 third graders and
their teachers to increase agricultural awareness.
The Million Hour Challenge is an initiative to unite
students across the United States in building
communities through civic engagement and service
learning projects. Students are challenged to report
their hours spent on civic engagement projects to the
National FFA Organization. Participating chapters are
awarded $2500 for outstanding projects in the areas
of Environment, Government, Social Services, Healthy
Lifestyles, and Education.
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School of Human Resource
Education & Workforce
Development
142 Old Forestry Building
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE NATIONAL FFA AWARD RECIPIENTS
American Degree Recipients
Gary Jones—Denham Springs
Steven Parrie—Ebarb
Demi Rushing—Florien
Elizabeth Thaxton—Florien
Jacob Sittig—Iowa
Lauren Beard—North Central
Eric Crain—Pine
Brianna Creel—Pine
Jared Magee—Pine
Dustin Williams—Pine
Joshua Williams—Pine
Callie Uriegas—Rayne
Spencer Stelly—Rayne
Honorary Degree Recipients
Hals Beard—Beau Chene High
Raymond Roberts—Maurepas High
Mike Strain—Louisiana State Commissioner of Agriculture
8
Career Development Events
Agronomy - Wayland Morgan - Gold
Lakeview High - Silver
Creed Speaking - Calvin High - Caitlin James - Bronze
Dairy Cattle Evaluation - Springfield High - Bronze
Environmental/Natural Resources - Beau Chene - Bronze
Extemporaneous Speaking - Thibodaux High
Cody Quebedeaux - Bronze
Farm Business Management - Springfield - Bronze
Forestry - Logan Adams - Gold
Calvin High - Silver
Horse Evaluation - Ponchatoula High - Silver
Caitlin Lambert - Gold
Sarah Torres - Gold
Livestock Evaluation - Elton High - Silver
Meats Eval. and Technology - Thibodaux High - Silver
Nursery Landscape - Calvin High - Bronze
Parliamentary Procedure - Choudrant High - Bronze
Prepared Public Speaking - Pleasant Hill High
Victoria Arnold - Bronze
Poultry - Springfield High - Bronze