January 27th, 2017

Class

Freshmen:  Students should start to think about what they would like to do for their Supervised Agricultural Experience project.  Projects will be fully planned in Quarter 4.  Be sure to check out the SAE section of these updates for ideas.  

Next week we will be jumping into ornithology to master our skills in identification using dichotomous keys and field guides. 

Sophomore:    Students will be earning their Chapter FFA degree this year.  See all of the requirements for this degree in the photo below.  Listed, is their progress towards meeting this degree:

• Public presentation: Students just finished up presenting a speech as one of the requirements of this degree. 
• Parli Pro: Next week, students will be starting the Parliamentary Procedure (Parli Pro) unit (until Feb. 10th) which will meet another requirement for the degree.  
• 10 Hours of Community Service: Another component of the award is to complete 10 hours of community service (that is not counting towards LH graduation requirement).  Check out some of  the  opportunities for students to earn community service hours in our classroom.  Let me know if you want to stay after school or  come down during study hall. 

Juniors:  Meeting every other day now, we are moving into our Navigation and Mapping unit.  Students will map various areas used by our class.  This week we removed some invasive burning bush shrubs and created a new brush pile to provide escape cover for some of the birds that visit our feeders.

Seniors: We just started a new unit on global warming and climate change.  Students will be researching information about global warming and creating a movie about what they learn. 

FFA

ENR/Envirothon:  The next Environmental/ Natural Resource CDE practice will be held on Tuesday January 31st.  We will be focusing on the identification part of the contest.  Come learn how to use dichotomous keys and delve deeper into the specifics about the key identifying features for each species.  ​We are looking for someone to take over being team captain.  Let me know if you are interested.  

A couple weeks ago, Envirothon hosted an Aquatics workshop in East Hartford.  Silvia attended and we learned how to use dichotomous keys to identify amphibians and fish, learned the principles of permaculture, attended a discussion on riparian buffers and spotted a bald eagle on its nest over the Connecticut River.  The next Envirothon workshop is coming up.  Hope more of you can join Silvia and I! 

Scholarship: Amanda K. Cartier Memorial Scholarships  ($500 for an ag student) has been posted in Naviance.

SAE

SAE Grades:  We are about half way through the SAE grading period.  SAE will be graded again on March 1st.  Please make sure you are staying up to date with your hours, SAE photos and journal entries.  Let me know if you are having difficulties earning hours or are interested in changing projects.  

SAE Ideas: 

• Ladies! Check out the Outdoor Women's Alliance for some outdoor adventures around New England.
• Skill Development: Review the career component part of your exam.  What are some of the skills necessary for your chosen career field.  How can you work on developing some of these skills through your SAE?  
• Participate in the 2017 Clean Tech Competition
  • “Create a Greener Future." Win up to $10,000! REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
    Registration is now open for the 2017 Clean Tech Competition, a global research and design challenge for 15-18 year old students. This year’s challenge is to “Create a Greener Future”.  This educational opportunity challenges students to develop innovative, clean technology solutions to real-world issues. Solutions may take on aspects of buildings, materials, and efficiency, indoor environmental quality and “sick buildings”, among other available topics. Student participants will gain experience with focused research, critical thinking, and the scientific process – making it a great project based learning opportunity.  There is no entry fee, and students can participate through school, extracurricular programs or on their own. Total prizes awarded will be over $30,000 and the Finalist Event will be held on at Stony Brook University, New York!  There is no limit to the number of Teams per organization – so spread the word! Each stage of the competition is designed to be a rewarding process, and more student participation means    inspiring more young scientists to help build a better future for our planet. We want students from Connecticut in this year’s competition this year and for years to come.

​SAE Spotlight:  Ally, a senior in Wildlife Biology, has been collecting information about Wildlife Bio student's SAE projects for her Ag Communications SAE.  Each week, she will be highlighting one student's project in a SAE Spotlight.