Jacob Schultz, of the Sleepy Eye FFA, earned many Champions and Overall Best in Show in the Crop Show at the Brown County Fair.

Gracie Sellner, Sleepy Eye FFA 2nd Vice President, earned the Best in Show Dairy Exhibit Award at the FFA Dairy Show.

The Best in Show Goat Exhibit for the FFA Show at the Brown County Fair was exhibited by Olivia Schieffert (right). She is pictured with Morgan Mathiowetz (left) who was Reserve Overall and had the Champion Market Goat.

Emma Fischer earns Reserve Champion for the FFA Beef Show with her Market Steer.

Winsten Nienhaus (left) earned the Best in Show Poultry Exhibit Award at the Brown County Fair. He is pictured with judge Tim Larson (right).

Winsten Nienhaus (left) and Isaac Lendt (right), both Sleepy Eye FFA Officers, are pictured with their Best in Show Doghouse Ag. Mechanics Exhibit at the Brown County Fair.

Over 20 Sleepy Eye FFA Members worked at the Kiddy Barn during shifts at the Brown County Fair. This is Wednesday’s group. Pictured l to r – front: Lee Wahlborg, Brooke Arneson, Noemi Rodriguez, Chloe Howe. Back: Katelyn Wurtzberger, Adam Johnson, Gunny Coulson, Marcus Martinez, Ari Krizmarzick, Kaytlyn Romberg, Leisha Martinez, Izzy Kunkel.

Sleepy Eye FFA chapter members had many different roles at the 2022 Brown County Fair from August 10-14.  The members showcased their crop, mechanics, 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, Rachel Portner, Gracie Sellner. Beef- Emma Fischer, Isaac Lendt, Lucia Martinez.  Goats- Morgan Mathiowetz, Olivia Schieffert. Poultry- Winsten Nienhaus. Swine- Olivia Schieffert.

The Sleepy Eye FFA chapter was very successful with their projects. The following are their placings and the resulting champions for exhibitors at the Brown County Fair.

FFA Dairy Show:   

Gracie Sellner: Senior Champion and Overall Best in Show

Sophia Gustafson: Junior Champion and Reserve Overall Best in Show

Rachel Portner: Reserve Junior Champion

 FFA Beef Show:

Emma Fischer: Reserve Champion Market Beef

FFA Poultry Show:

Winsten Nienhaus: Champion Egg Production, Champion Pen- Ducks, and Overall Best in Show

FFA Goat Shot:

Olivia Schieffert: Champion Breeding Doe and Overall Best in Show

Morgan Mathiowetz: Champion Market and Reserve Overall Best in Show

FFA Swine Show:

Olivia Schieffert: Market Gilt Champion and Reserve Champion Breeding Gilt

FFA Crops Show:                                                                                                                     

The crops show was a very large competition with nearly 500 samples. All of the crops will be entered in and displayed at the Minnesota State Fair from August 25^th until September 5^th.

 CROP SHOW CHAMPIONS:                                                                                 

Ear Corn: Jacob Schultz

Miscellaneous: Jacob Schultz

Oats: Jamie Hulsey

Shelled Corn: Jacob Schultz

Soybeans: Jacob Schultz

Wheat: Carson Uecker

CROP SHOW RESERVE CHAMPIONS:

Ear Corn: Adam Johnson

Miscellaneous: Jasmine Peterman

Oats: Jon Peterman

Shelled Corn: Isaac Lendt

Soybeans: Emma Fischer

Wheat: Tim Friton

Overall Crops Best in Show – Jacob Schultz

Reserve Overall Best in Show – Jasmine Peterman

FFA Ag Mechanics:

The Ag Mechanics division had several entries this year including woods, construction, metals, and combination projects. Kyle Capacia, Destiney Dittbenner,  Zack Dominguez, Enrique Flores, Morgan Hoffmann, Adam Johnson, Lily Kallevig, Jessy Lozano, Marcus Martinez, Evan Thompson, Winsten Nienhaus, and Jade Sellner had exhibits for Sleepy Eye FFA.

Winsten Nienhaus: Construction Champion, Reserve Champion, and Overall Best in Show

Enrique Flores: Metals Champion

Destiney Dittbenner: Metals Reserve Champion

Kyle Capacia: Woodworking Champion

Marcus Martinez: Woodworking Reserve Champion

Morgan Hoffmann: Multi-class Champion

Jessy Lozano: Multi-class Reserve Champion

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. Over 20 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 (Hereford Crossbred Calf), and Spring Creek Dairy (Jersey Calf).

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.

The Sleepy Eye Education Association named Kathy Haala their 2022-2023 Friend of Education.

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

Jony Flores, Sleepy Eye Member, is showing kids at Farmfest how dangerous machines can be with this Pinch Point demonstration with a carrot representing a person’s finger.

This is one of the four groups of Sleepy Eye FFA members that helped out at Farmfest during the week. Pictured l to r – front: Kyle Capacia, Daniel Armstrong, Mateo Hornsby, Kaytlyn Romberg, Emma Fischer. Back: Jacob Mellen, Leisha Martinez, Marcus Martinez, Robert Romberg, Adam Johnson, Jake Price.

By: Kyle Capacia, Chapter Reporter

From August 2nd through August 4th, FFA members from Sleepy Eye traveled to Farmfest to teach youth and families about various farm safety topics. Set up for the event was August 1st which included putting up the tent and setting up the nine safety stations.

The following 27 members helped with setting up and conducting activities for the week: Daniel Armstrong, Brooke Arneson, Kyle Capacia, Riley Eckstein-Sprenger, Emma Fischer, Jony Flores, Mateo Hornsby, Chloe Howe, Adam Johnson, Anna Johnson, Alex Joramo, Izzy Kunkel, Leisha Martinez, Lucia Martinez, Marcus Martinez, Jacob Mellen, Envy Morales, Jake Price, Daniel Rendon, Kaytlyn Romberg, Robert Romberg, Antonio Ruiz, Ethan Schwartz, Gracie Sellner, Conor Strong, Katelyn Tauer, and Ellen Windschitl.

FFA advisors, Mary Hoffmann, Katie Emmett, and Paul Hendrickx also attended the event. 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 first ever CRC Discovery Day. They included: l to r – Ethan Schwartz, Emma Fischer, Izzy Kunkel, Kaytlyn Romberg, Lucia Martinez, Chloe Howe, and Noemi Rodriguez.

By: Chloe Howe, Chapter Reporter

On Thursday, July 28, Sleepy Eye FFA Members attended the first ever Discovery Day at Central Region Cooperative. The members included: Emma Fischer, Kaytlyn Romberg, Ethan Schwartz, Lucia Martinez, Chloe Howe, Izzy Kunkel, and Noemi Rodriguez. Advisors Mary Hoffmann, Katie Emmett, and Paul Hendrickx were in attendance as well.

The day started at the main office of CRC with Nate, CEO of CRC, giving background information on cooperatives and how they operate as well as his career path.

Next, Sue talked to students about career opportunities within the accounting field as well as an explanation of the different divisions and how they each have their own accounting departments.

Then it was onto the grain division. Carly and Jay 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 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 Mike in Sales 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 heard from Brian and Jordan 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.

Last, 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 cool bagging automation with our own eyes. From the machine that weighs out ingredients and fills the bags to the robots that stack the bags on pallets and wrap the pallets, it was really fascinating to see.

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.

This group of FFA members and teachers helped to inventory all of the school supplies for the United Way Backpack Project. Pictured l to r – Chloe Howe, Noemi Rodriguez, Nichole Krenz, Ellen Windschitl, Gracie Sellner, and Leisha Martinez. Not pictured: Izzy Kunkel.

By: Kyle Capacia, FFA Reporter

Each year, approximately 400 backpacks are filled with grade and school district appropriate school supplies and given to qualifying children throughout Brown County through the United Way Backpack Project.

Children in grades K-8 in Brown County who qualify for the free lunch program can participate in this program. United Way has teamed up with local school districts, the Salvation Army, BIC Graphic, Bank Midwest and many area businesses to make this opportunity available to families in the Brown County area.

The thousands of school supplies that have been donated need to be sorted and inventoried to figure out which supplies still need to be purchased. The Sleepy Eye FFA had 10 volunteers come together to help sort the supplies at the New Ulm Library. The volunteers included: FFA members, our FFA advisors, and DCD Special Education Teacher Nichole Krenz. Later, after all of the supplies had been gathered, volunteers will help to pack the 400 backpacks for the students in need.

Thank you to the local businesses who helped collect donations in our communities this July for the project. Our FFA members are able to utilize United Way funds to help cover costs for FFA events throughout the year and we were happy to give back by helping out with this project!

Grecia Navarro (left) and Cristal Schmidtknecht (right) made these bud vase arrangements in the Floriculture Class.

The students had a lot of fun in Baking Class. Pictured l to r – Jaelynn Schauman, Taylor Berkner, and Sam Price made cookies along with chocolate cake mug desserts.

Ari Krizmarzick attended the Nail String Art class and made this Minnesota creation.

By Chloe Howe, Chapter Reporter

The Sleepy Eye Summer Agricultural Education program has been busy over the months of June and July. Along with leadership and tour opportunities, short hands-on classes have been taking place at Sleepy Eye Public School.

Beginning on June 23^rd and 24^th, the first of the Summer Ag. Classes began including Nail Art and Floriculture. Members learned and made their own projects including nail string art creations and various floral arrangements.

In July, the courses included Cooking and Baking Classes. Through these courses, students learned a variety of cooking and baking techniques and made dishes from crepes to cookies, breakfast and desserts.

Total student enrollment for all of the classes was over 55 in attendance.

The FFA members are continuing their involvement this summer with booths at Party in the Park, Farm Fest, and Summerfest, as well as county fair and more leadership opportunities.

Mary Hoffmann, Sleepy Eye Ag. Teacher, was awarded the Region III ACTE Teacher of the Year Award in Des Moines, IA. 

Mary Hoffmann, Sleepy Eye Ag. Teacher, was named ACTE Region III Teacher of the Year this summer. She received this award at the Region III ACTE Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. ACTE is the Association of Career and Technical Education. ACTE is the largest national education association of thriving professionals dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. Our members represent all facets of career and technical education (CTE).

The ACTE Organization represents teachers in the areas of Agriculture, Business, Counseling & Career Development, Engineering & Technical Education, Family & Consumer Science, Health Science, Trade & Industrial Education, and Postsecondary, Adult & Career Education. Region III includes the following states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

Hoffmann was selected as the Region III Teacher of the Year winner for her work in Agricultural Education, with the Sleepy Eye FFA, and as a leader in her school, state, and nation. Mary’s personal teaching philosophy is to provide students with base agriculture knowledge as well as skills for the future.

She has many goals for the program based on this. Helping students to realize the importance of agriculture in their daily lives is the first goal, followed by providing FFA opportunities, helping students become better people and to teach with heart and passion.

Mary Hoffmann states, “You never know what some of the students’ lives are like at home, but at school it can be really great in your classroom if you are the role model and caring person that the student needs.”

In the state of Minnesota, Hoffmann is on the State Teach Ag. Results and Minnesota State Fair Committee, member of the FFA Adult Board, serves as a mentor for various programs, and is the Minnesota Association of Ag. Educators grant writer. Over the years, Hoffmann has secured funding for state-wide professional development opportunities for Agriculture teachers. The grants have included: Basic Woodworking, Food Science and Chemistry, Small Engines, Electricity, Floral Design, Record Keeping, Landscaping, Construction, and Welding for a total of over $150,000.

At the National level, Hoffmann serves on the National Council for Agricultural Education as the president-elect. The National Council for Agricultural Education (The Council) strives to stimulate positive growth in agricultural education. The Council provides leadership for stakeholders in agriculture, food, fiber and natural resources systems education. It strives to surface issues important to agricultural education and stimulate actions to support those issues. The Council serves as a common meeting ground for agricultural education and represents organizations and entities representing students, teachers, teacher educators, state leaders, alumni, industry, and government.

Hoffmann is honored to receive this award and excited for the next steps which include an interview and selection of the top Teacher of the Year in the nation at the ACTE Awards Gala in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 3, 2022.