Sleepy Eye FFA wins the Chapter Demonstration Competition at the Minnesota State Fair! Pictured l to r: front- Daniel Armstrong, Chloe Howe, Carter Lazatin, Alex Confer, Noah Rossbach, Andrew Ramos. Back- Kyle Capacia, Marcus Martinez, Antonio Ruiz, Kayden Klein, Mateo Hornsby.

Sleepy Eye FFA had a great Minnesota State Fair with Jasmine Petermann showing this Purebred Holstein Summer Yearling Heifer and earning 1st place in her class.

Sleepy Eye FFA Members earned several Champions at the Minnesota State Fair including: Live Construction Build Off, Crops, and Chapter Demonstration. Pictured here: l to r- Lily Kallevig and Nolan Weicherding (with their champion bench and tools they won), McKenzie Kuschel (MN State FFA Sentinel), and Carter Lazatin (chapter member).

The Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter was once again well represented at the State Fair in 2023. Jasmine Petermann showed livestock at the fair. 11 members participated in the Chapter Demonstration Competition. Over 150 members participated in exhibiting over 700 entries for the Ag. Technology, Ag. Literacy, and Crops Competitions at the Minnesota State Fair.

The Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter earned the first place Premier Chapter Award for the Minnesota State Fair Crop Show with a total of 2164 points. Jackson was awarded 2nd place with 605 points. This was the 14th year that Sleepy Eye has won the Minnesota State Fair Crops Competition in the past 16 years.

The Crop Show Exhibitors earned the following placings:

• Conor Strong was the Champion Organic Exhibitor.
• Top Ten finishers for Overall Individual at the MN State Fair were: Adam Johnson- 4th Place, Isaac Lendt- 6th Place, Winsten Nienhaus- 8th Place, and Caleb Oscarson- 10th Place.
• Top 5 Finishers for First Time Exhibitors at the MN State Fair were:

Caleb Oscarson- 2nd place, Callie Evers- 3rd place, and Braylon Nelson- 4th place.

FFA Chapter Demonstration Competition:

• Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter was the Grand Champion Winner with their Safety Carnival earning a $1000 premium. The eleven members presented farm safety demonstrations for this competition in the Chapter Leadership House and on the Christensen Farms Stage at the Minnesota State Fair.

 FFA Live Ag. Mechanics Competition:

• Lily Kallevig and Nolan Weicherding – Wood Construction Build Off Champions (winning the bench they made and the Milwaukee tool set they used to build it)
• Winsten Nienhaus and Nathan Rathman – 3rd place Wood Construction Build Off

 FFA Dairy: Jasmine Petermann

• Purebred Holstein Winter Heifer Calf – 6th place
• Purebred Holstein Summer Yearling Heifer – 1st place
• Purebred Holstein Winter Senior Yearling Heifer – 2nd place
• Purebred Holstein Best Three Females – 3rd place
• Purebred Holstein Produce of Dam – 1st place
• Contestant in the Dairy Evaluation Contest

FFA Ag. Literacy and Technology (Mechanics) Exhibits:

• Nolan Weicherding – Champion Project
• Other Exhibitors included- Cole Eckstein, Jacob Fulmer, Jony Flores, Yuridia Fernandez, Noemi Rodriguez, Kennedy Braun, Nathan Rathman, Kaleb Butenhoff, Mateo Moreno, Emerson Johnson, Noah Rossbach, Jaelynn Schauman, Emma Weilage, Jacob Mellen, Manuelle Poplow, Gavin Strong, Caleb Suess, Makayla Strong, Jax Como, Gavin Fischer, Jace Schauman, Logan Ludewig, Andrew Ramos
• The chapter placed 2nd overall in the Ag. Literacy Contest.
• The chapter placed 4th overall in the Ag. Technology Contest.

Congratulations to the Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter on their accomplishments at the Minnesota State Fair!

FFA Officers plan for the upcoming year! Pictured here: front row- left to right:  Noah Rossbach, Alex Confer, Lily Kallevig, Lucia Martinez, Noemi Rodriguez, Chloe Howe. Back: Jaelynn Schauman, Logan Ludewig, Isaac Lendt, Taylor Berkner, Daniel Armstrong.

Sleepy Eye FFA Officers attended an officer workshop to plan for the upcoming school year and to get to know their fellow officers better. The team, with the help of advisors Ms. Emmett, Mr. Hendrickx, Mrs. Hoffmann and Summer Intern Ms. Carlson-Hughes, covered a lot of business such as officer duties, the chapter’s budget, and team goals.

The 2023-24 Sleepy Eye Officer Team includes: President – Winsten Nienhaus, 1st Vice President – Isaac Lendt, 2nd Vice President – Marcus Martinez, 3rd Vice President – Chloe Howe, Secretary – Izzy Kunkel, Treasurer – Kyle Capacia, Reporter – Alex Confer, Social Media Reporter – Noemi Rodriguez, Student Advisors – Lily Kallevig and Daniel Armstrong, Historians – Taylor Berkner and Jaelynn Schauman, Sentinel – Logan Ludewig, Parliamentarian – Lucia Martinez, and Officer-at-Large – Noah Rossbach. At the workshop, each member chose different activities to help with and organize during the year.

The team chose their goals for the year based on the needs of the chapter. The 2023-24 team goals include:

1- To complete 2200 service hours this year.

2- To have at least 40 high school and 35 junior high members attend their respective chapter meetings.

3- To have 4 officer bonding events and for officers to dress up at every theme meeting.

The team also discussed the new motto for the coming year. The Sleepy Eye FFA motto for this 2023-24 is United We Shine!

The Officer team also reviewed their budget which reminded them of how important sponsors are to the chapters program. It is because of them that our chapter is able to operate and provide such amazing experiences for its members.

The officer team will continue to do community service this year, including cards for nursing home and assisted living residents, Wee deliver PALS with elementary, roadside clean-up, helping with the Weekend Backpack Food Program, and other service events that arise.

Throughout the business-filled meeting, the team did many team building activities and began to understand how to use each of their strengths to work together for a successful year. The officers are extremely excited about what’s in store for the upcoming year and are looking forward to growing as leaders, serving the community, and influencing other chapter members.

Colten Havemeier, Dean’s List
Colten Havemeier, President’s List
Madesen Roberts, Dean’s List

The Sleepy Eye Education Association named Sandy Bieto (left) their 2023-2024 Friend of Education.

Beito joins previous award winners Mel Cook and Duke Cook, Arneson Distributing, Dave Vosbeck, Julia Coulson, Darla Remus, Karen Okerman, Shari Hittesdorf, Dennis Mangen, Mary Ann Christensen and Kathy Haala.

Isaac Lendt (right), of the Sleepy Eye FFA, earned all Corn Champions and Overall Best in Show in the Crop Show at the Brown County Fair. He is pictured with Winsten Nienhaus (left), Chapter President, who earned Overall Best in Show for Poultry.

Nolan Weicherding (right), of the Sleepy Eye FFA, earned the Overall Best in Show for Ag. Mechanics at the Brown County Fair with his perfectly crafted cutting board. He is pictured with Lily Kallevig, Chapter Student Advisor (left).

Gracie Sellner, Sleepy Eye Member, earned the Reserve Sr. Champion and Reserve Best in Show Dairy Exhibit Award at the FFA Dairy Show at the Brown County Fair.

40 Sleepy Eye FFA Members worked at the Kiddy Barn during shifts at the Brown County Fair. This is the set up crew. Pictured l to r – front: Kennedi Wersal, Lily Kallevig, Chloe Howe, Alex Confer, Camryn Maher, Lucia Martinez, Noah Rossbach, Kyle Capacia, Jaden Yack. Back: Ellen Windschitl, Isaac Lendt, Winsten Nienhaus, Noemi Rodriguez, Antonio Ruiz, Marcus Martinez, Ari Krzmarzick, Logan Ludewig, McCoy Marti.

Leah Kucera of the Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter was the Overall High Point Exhibitor for the Horse Show at the Brown County Fair.

Sleepy Eye FFA chapter members had many different roles at the 2023 Brown County Fair from August 9-13.  The members showcased their crop, mechanics, Ag. literacy, and livestock projects and also helped run the FFA Kiddy Barnyard and FFA shows at the Brown County Fair.

Livestock exhibitors included: Dairy- Sophie Gustafson, Sophie Kyllonen, Rachel Portner, Jared Portner, Gracie Sellner. Beef- Emma Fischer, Isaac Lendt.  Poultry- Winsten Nienhaus. Swine- Olivia Schieffert.

The Sleepy Eye FFA chapter was very successful with their projects. Our members earned a total of $2556 in FFA premium money at the Brown County Fair this year for exhibiting all of these projects. The following are their placings and the resulting champions for exhibitors at the Brown County Fair. 

FFA Dairy Show:   

Gracie Sellner: Reserve Senior Champion and Reserve Overall Best in Show

Sophia Kyllonen: Junior Champion Any Other Breed, Reserve Sr. Champion Any Other Breed, Overall Junior Champion Honorable Mention 

FFA Poultry Show:

Winsten Nienhaus: Champion – Egg Production, Champion Market Pen – Males, Champion Market Pen – Females, Overall Best in Show

FFA Swine Show:

Olivia Schieffert: Reserve Champion Breeding Gilt, Reserve Champion Market Barrow

FFA Crops Show:                                                                                                                     The crops show was a very large competition with over 700 samples. All of the crops will be displayed at the Minnesota State Fair from August 24^th until September 4^th.

 CROP SHOW CHAMPIONS:                                                                                 

Ear Corn: Isaac Lendt

Miscellaneous: Gavin Strong

Oats: Adam Johnson

Shelled Corn: Isaac Lendt

Soybeans: Dillon Gerzsik

Wheat: Conor Strong

Winter Wheat: Adam Johnson

CROP SHOW RESERVE CHAMPIONS:

Ear Corn: Isaac Lendt

Miscellaneous: Kenley Jensen

Oats: Emma Thibado

Shelled Corn: Isaac Lendt

Soybeans: Kyle Capacia

Wheat: Emma Weilage

Winter Wheat: Shea Evers

Overall Crops Best in Show – Isaac Lendt (Ear Corn)

Reserve Overall Best in Show – Isaac Lendt (Shelled Corn)

FFA Ag Mechanics and Ag. Literacy:

The Ag Mechanics division had numerous entries this year including woods, construction, metals, and Ag. literacy projects. Jax Como, Jony Flores, Jacob Fulmer, Jacob Mellen, Jace Schauman, Emerson Johnson, Manny Poplow, Andrew Ramos, Noah Rossbach, Gavin Strong, Caleb Suess, Nolan Weicherding, Emma Weilage, Noemi Rodriguez, Gavin Fisher, Logan Ludewig, Jaelynn Schauman, Yurdia Fernandez, Mateo Moreno, Kennedy Braun, Kaleb Butenhoff, Cole Eckstein, Makayla Strong, and Nathan Rathman had exhibits for Sleepy Eye FFA.

CHAMPIONS:

Mateo Moreno: Construction Champion

Jacob Fulmer: Metals Champion

Jace Schauman: Metals Reserve Champion

Nolan Weicherding: Woodworking Champion (Small Project), Overall Best in Show

Noah Rossbach: Woodworking Reserve Champion (Small Project)

Noemi Rodriguez: Woodworking Champion (Large Project)

Nolan Weicherding: Woodworking Reserve Champion (Large Project)

Cole Eckstein: Ag Literacy Champion (Small Project)

Makayla Strong: Ag Literacy Reserve Champion (Small Project)

Nathan Rathman: Ag Literacy Champion (Large Project)

Kennedy Braun: Ag Literacy Reserve Champion Large Project)

The FFA chapters within Brown County also conducted the FFA Kiddy Barn during the five days of the fair. It was a huge success thanks to the many FFA members from Sleepy Eye, Springfield, and New Ulm who worked shifts during the fair as well as the people who donated animals for the Kiddy Barn. 40 members of the Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter participated in helping children have a great experience with baby animals and learning about farm safety and agriculture while at the fair.

The FFA Kiddy Barnyard exhibited newborn farm animals donated by several families including:  Roseview Dairy (Holstein Calf), Port Haven Dairy (Brown Swiss Calf), Stacy Tauer (Angus Calf), and Cold Creek Farms (Piglets).

The FFA Kiddy Barnyard also had an agriculture coloring & activity station as well as a safety carnival. At the safety carnival, FFA members conducted several games with safety questions covering grain, ATV’s, tractors & machinery, animals, and chemicals. The members of the Sleepy Eye chapter had a great time teaching youth at the Kiddy Barnyard about animals and safety as well as showcasing their FFA projects during the Brown County Fair.

This is one of the four groups of Sleepy Eye FFA members that helped out at Farmfest during the week. Pictured l to r: Destiney Dittbenner, Chloe Howe, Ellen Windschitl, Alex Confer, Jaden Yack, Clark Lazatin, Zach Dominguez, Ethan Schwartz, Colton Romberg, Daniel Armstrong, and Marcus Martinez.

From August 1st through August 3rd, FFA members from Sleepy Eye traveled to Farmfest to teach youth and families about various farm safety topics. Set up for the event was July 31st which included putting up the tent and setting up the nine safety stations.

The following 30 members helped with setting up and conducting activities for the week: Daniel Armstrong, Taylor Berkner, Alex Confer, Destiney Dittbenner, Zach Dominguez, Tim Friton, Lydia Helget, Lily Kallevig, Ari Krzmarzick, Ava Kunkel, Carter Lazatin, Clark Lazatin, Isaac Lendt, Logan Ludewig, Travis Mages, Sam Price, Riley Eckstein-Sprenger, Mateo Hornsby, Chloe Howe, Camryn  Maher, Marcus Martinez, Colton Romberg, Robert Romberg, Noah Rossbach, Jaelynn Schauman, Ethan Schwartz, Katelyn Tauer, Kenedi Wersal, Ellen Windschitl, and Jaden Yack.

FFA advisors, Mary Hoffmann, Katie Emmett, and Paul Hendrickx also attended the event along with summer intern McKayla Carlson-Hughes. Throughout the three days that FFA members were present at Farmfest, they were able to educate over 500 youth and their families.

The Sleepy Eye FFA worked with the RedBrownVille Farm Safety for Just Kids chapter which includes members from three counties and sponsorship from AgCountry Farm Credit Services, Farmward/Ag. Quest, Land ‘O Lakes, Redwood Area Chamber Ag. Committee, and Bayer.

The name Farm Safety for Just Kids is a collaboration of Redwood, Brown, and Renville counties who have worked together since 2006 to help inform and prevent injuries and accidents on the farm and around machinery, making the farm a safer place by showing kids the danger of certain situations.

The youth who attended had the opportunity to play nine safety games/demonstrations including Pinch Points (Chains and Belts), Tractor Safety, Auger Safety, Wheel of Misfortune, Plinko (Farm Safety Trivia), Bridged Grain, Gravity Wagon Safety, Chemical Safety, and Tug of War with Grain.

Each kid was given a card that was then marked off at every station. When they had finished going to each station, they were given prizes. The prizes included: water bottles, cinch bags, coloring books, pencils, flashlights, and more.

Sleepy Eye FFA worked alongside the Wabasso, Redwood Valley, and Tracy FFA Chapters. All of the members who volunteered their time at the safety carnival successfully helped inform youth while also making it a fun experience for those who attended.

If you would like to be a part of Farm Safety Just for Kids feel free to contact Mary Hoffmann, FFA advisor at Sleepy Eye Public School.

Seven Sleepy Eye FFA Members attended the CRC Discovery Day. They included: l to r – Zach Dominguez, Clark Lazatin, Ari Krzmarzick, Taylor Berkner, Alex Confer, Kaytlyn Romberg, and Lucia Martinez

On Thursday, July 27, Sleepy Eye FFA Members attended the Career Discovery Day at Central Region Cooperative. The members included: Taylor Berkner, Alex Confer, Zach Dominguez, Ari Krzmarzick, Clark Lazatin, Lucia Martinez, Kaytlyn Romberg. Advisors Mary Hoffmann, Katie Emmett, and Paul Hendrickx were in attendance as well as McKayla Carlson Hughes.

The day started at the main office of CRC with Megan Hoffmann, giving background information on cooperatives and how they operate as well as an overview of CRC and some of the career opportunities and divisions of CRC.

Then it was onto the grain division. Carly showed us the unloading zone, grain bins, and dryer. They gave an overview of the large scale operations of the grain division and how they ship it in trucks and the rail.

The morning continued with the feed division as Brad and Sonya shared information on the roles of the employees in this area, how the mill works, who the customers are, the ingredients in the different feeds, and the automation of the mill.

After seeing all of the divisions near the main office building, we traveled to the CRC site east of Sleepy Eye to the Agronomy division. We heard from sales employees and learned about the customers, acres, territories, and educational paths to sales. We also heard from Jordan in Operations and the guys in the Energy Division. They shared information on the numbers and types of equipment, types of trucks, capacity of the trucks, truck routes, and the different products and where they come from as well as the rail system.

Next, we entered the BCA facility where Al taught us about the many different lawn fertilizers and ice melt products manufactured there. He discussed how they get the bags and ingredients and we saw the bagging automation station. From the machine that weighs out ingredients and fills the bags to the robots that stack the bags on pallets and wrap the pallets, this part of the business was fascinating.

Last, we heard from Brian about the Shop.  The building was incredible and had numerous overhead doors to accommodate all of the different trucks and equipment. There is such a variety of work due to all of the different machines and maintenance on the equipment.

We are very thankful to have had so many of the CRC employees in the different divisions talk to us about what they do in the cooperative and the educational paths available for the various careers there.

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