Boxes overflowing with food filled the Kuna Ag shop Friday, Dec 16^th, as the Kuna FFA chapter collected, sorted, and delivered food, books, and warm clothing to 71 families in the area. The overwhelming success of this annual event was due to the tremendous effort of the entire Kuna community.

      Each family received four to five boxes full of a variety of canned and boxed food, which included ten pound boxes of Bisquick and rice. Every family was also given a bag of potatoes, a bag of pinto beans, a ten pound turkey, scarves or hats, and books.

      Assistance from the community was vital to the success of the canned food drive. Through the donations of money and time from many, this event had more success than in years past. Many pick-up loads filled with thousands of canned food items were collected from all of the schools in the Kuna district, as well as the library. Many different prizes and awards were given out for different contests throughout the district, including Hubbard’s and Teed’s “Stuff the Bus” challenge, and pizza parties from the FFA chapter for classes who collected the most food.

      Using points donated by the community, turkeys were purchased from Paul’s Market and given to each family. Scarves were made and donated by the Kuna High School’s Green team, and stocking hats were knitted and donated by Kuna Middle School students. Age-appropriate books were collected for each child in each family and donated by Kuna school students, through the Operation Wish Book program. Over 900 books were given away. Through the Santa Project at Kuna High School, $920 was collected to be spent at Costco, purchasing staple food items such as Bisquick, rice, oatmeal, applesauce, and more for each family.

      Caring for 71 families is no small feat, and the Kuna FFA chapter would like to make sure the following people are recognized for their contributions: Kuna students who donated food and helped with Operation Wish Book, Paul’s Market and customers who donated points, the Green team for making scarves, Kuna Middle School students who knitted hats, Honor Society, CAST, FHLA, FCCLA, the library, the Kuna Food Bank, KEA for organizing Operation Wish Book, our delivery drivers, and everyone else who donated time, money, or resources. The community’s donations gave many a brighter holiday season and were appreciated by all.

 Things are starting to pick up for Kuna FFA. There’s been Creed Speaking, Greenhand and Chapter degrees, Regionals for Range, and coming up, we have Produce Sales and the annual Canned Food Drive.

On November 14^th, the Kuna FFA held its Chapter Creed and Degree night. Many Greenhand members took the opportunity to participate in their first Career Development Event (CDE). Participants were required to learn the FFA Creed and then recite it from memory. This was a great way for Greenhands to practice their public speaking skills. Each member is judged on their ability to remember the Creed word for word, as well as their ability to present it effectively. Receiving fourth place in this CDE was Macy Hagler, receiving third was Shannon Tully, receiving second was Tayler Beus, and receiving first with the opportunity to move on to the district level was Carli Ashley. Congratulations to all of the Creed speakers!

The Kuna chapter also presented Greenhand and Chapter degrees on this night. Forty-one first year members who have been enrolled in an agricultural class and have a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) planned out received their Greenhand degree. These members included, Yomar Arnold, Carli Ashley, Boone Bartlome, Tiara Benson, Tayler Beus, Keenan Blanford, Dillon Edes, Alyssa Ford, Macy Hagler, Alexis Hengel, Kylie Hill, Charlie Hukill, Ciera Johnson, Mackenzie Johnson, Bailee Kipper, Drew Leavitt, Alica Martinez, Geri Mills, Savannah Nell, Abigail Peterson, Diana Pozos, Whitney Raver, Libby Reynolds, Andres Rodriguez, Kendra Sumerall, Jordan Teeter, Nathan Townley, Shannon Tully, Zack Velez, Hannah Waldal, Sean Wheaton, Christian Wilson, Haylie Wright, Tera York. Second year members who are enrolled in an agricultural class, have lead a discussion, and have invested $1000 in their SAE project received their Chapter degree. Kuna FFA gave out twenty-eight chapter degrees to Holly Barrus, Ben Christenson, Emily Curtis, Megan Danell, Chelsea Dye, Jaden Hayes, Nate Kessel, Zakary Moffat, Brogan Moore, Kylee Nell, Andreina Rodriguez, Caitlyn Shankel, Kayla Simper, Kameron Wartman, Dustin Zabel.

In the beginning of November, Kuna FFA sent its Range team to Western Regional’s in Utah, which included teams from Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Kuna FFA did very well, placing second overall. Mark Nebeker place third individually, and the rest of the team, Henry Wilson, Maggie Reynolds, and Chris Ball also did very well.

Kuna FFA is wrapping up the year with its annual produce sales and canned food drive. If you would like to purchase produce to support this fundraiser for the chapter contact a Kuna FFA member. We would also appreciate any donations to the canned food drive, which will help support Kuna families. Last year, we were able to provide over fifty families with food, a turkey, and Christmas presents for children. We are collecting food at all Kuna schools and will accept donations at the Ag shop at the high school. We are able to make this a success every year because of the community’s support.

The Kuna FFA chapter had a national-winning team last week at the FFA National Convention! The Kuna Farm Business Management team spent two days participating in their Career Development Event (CDE) taking a three-hour test and doing a team activity. Every team member received the gold award as individuals. Teammates Mark Nebeker, Jeni Hagler (10^th high individual overall) and Zack Reynolds (6^th high individual) were awarded $1,000 scholarships while Josh Winger (1^st High Individual!) was awarded a $1,500 scholarship. This is only the fourth national-winning Kuna FFA has ever had in its history.

Kuna sent three teams to the National FFA Convention. All three teams received the gold award in their CDE’s! The Parliamentary Procedure team was in the top twelve teams and advanced to the semi-finals in their event. They were required to take a test over parliamentary procedure knowledge and participated in two sessions. These sessions were ten minutes long and allowed the team to show their knowledge of parliamentary procedure by conducting a meeting and answering oral questions. This team consisted of Chris Ball, Anna Rodriguez, Kaisa Werner, Brynn Powell, Alyssa Shankel, and Scott Hukill.

The Kuna Agricultural Mechanics team placed 11^th overall. Their CDE consisted of demonstrating their abilities to do things such as welding, wiring a breaker box, using a laser leveler, troubleshooting a tractor, and applying industrial skills in marketing. The team won two welding helmets and a welder for the Kuna Ag shop. The team had members Kevin Brown, Max Blitman (gold individual), Brett Berheim (gold individual), and Dylan Fadgen (gold individual and 21^st high individual).

Congratulations to all of our teams!

• Hagler, 10th place
• Reynolds, 6th place
• Winger, 1st place

The Kuna FFA chapter sent nine members to Burley last week to participate in the State Soils and State Rangeland CDE’s. Both of these Career Development Events (CDE’s) test the participants’ abilities to evaluate the potential of an area of land.

Kuna FFA Range Team - left to right: Henry Wilson, Maggie Reynolds, Mark Nebeker, Chris Ball, Mr. Dygert

In the Soils event, members look at the soil, slope, erosion, and other factors to determine how ideal the area would be for growing crops, rangeland, and development. The Rangeland CDE requires members to look at an area of land and evaluate factors such as growth of annual and perennial plants, types of plants available, and the amount of human interference to determine the capability of an area as a rangeland for wildlife common in Idaho.

The Soils team included members Kaisa Werner (9^th high individual), Jeni Hagler, Kayla Simper, Amanda Reynolds, and Zack Reynolds. The team placed 4^th overall. The Rangeland team was members Maggie Reynolds (4^th high individual), Mark Nebeker (5^th high individual), Henry Wilson, and Chris Ball. The team place 2^nd overall and qualify to go to Utah to participate in Western Regional’s in November.

Kuna FFA also sent nineteen members to the FFA National Convention on Monday. Kuna FFA has three teams participating at the national level in Indianapolis. The Parliamentary Procedure, Farm Business Management, and Ag Mechanics teams will compete in their events as well as attend National Convention sessions, tour Indiana and Kentucky, and meet FFA members from across the country. Good Luck teams!

District officials want to input from the community before implementing further solutions to the budget crisis facing the district.

The Kuna FFA scholarship auction was held Monday, September 26^th. We were able to raise more than $28,200 that will be used to provide scholarships for travel and college. We would like to thank everyone who supported this event by donating items, money, and time. The Kuna FFA would like to specifically thank:

• Clouss family for organizing buyer numbers and books
• Auctioneers Ted Wheeler and Chris Brown
• Hal Harris and Doyle McPherson for spotting bidders
• The Kuna FFA advisory committee
• Rita Ball and Robin Roberts for running computers

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event successful. We appreciate all of the support from the Kuna community!

2011 Donors:

2011 Buyers:

The Kuna FFA chapter recently took part in the Boise Valley District (BVD) leadership workshop, on September 12^th. Kuna was able to bring 44 members to this fun event. The BVD leadership workshop is a chance for FFA members to become acquainted and socialize with other members in the district, as well as participate in leadership activities and indentify some goals. This year, the Boise Valley district has decided to focus on community service. For this event, chapters were encouraged to ask members to bring canned food to be donated to the Boise Food Bank.

The Kuna FFA Scholarship Auction is coming up fast! This event will be September 26^th and will start at 6:00 with a delicious pulled pork dinner. The silent auction will begin at 6:30 and the live auction at 7:00. The purpose of this event is to raise money that will be awarded in the coming year. Funds will be given to graduating seniors who apply for chapter scholarships at the end of the year, as well as members attending the Washington Leadership Conference next summer, which is held in the nation’s capitol. This conference gives members a chance to develop leadership skills that they can apply to their FFA chapter. Money is also used for creed speaking awards and travel costs for State Leadership conference in Twin Falls and State CDE’s in Moscow.

We will have some great items this year including horse feeders, Dutch oven cooking tables, a purebred weaned Angus heifer, pig crates, and much more. Come join us for this fun, community event!

  Western Idaho Fair provided yet another week of awards for Kuna FFA members. Reserve Champion Showmen Brett Blackstock (Swine) and Andrew Scott (Sheep) joined forces with Champions Dustin Zabel (Beef) and Heather Skovgard (Horse) to storm the show-ring for the Round Robin. In the Round Robin, participants showed animals from every species, competing with the top showmen from every category for overall Grand Champion Showman; rising to the top were Brett, fourth high individual, and Dustin, Reserve Grand Champion Showman. Additionally, Heather received the Western Highpoint, Idaho Statesmen, and Buckskin Breed horse awards, while Andrew Scott (Sheep) and Zachary Reynolds (Beef) both placed 3^rd in the Market classes for their species. The chapter was well represented by all members, and a good time was had by all!