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The week of February 17 - 24, 2024 brought about National FFA week. This was a week of celebration, recognition, and advocating for FFA and Agriculture. According to FFA.org, there are 946,000 student FFA members nationwide! Of those members, 6,684 reside in Montana (montanaffa.org) and 116 registered FFA members here in Cascade!

Monday, February 17th, grades PreK - 12 at Cascade Schools celebrated National FFA week with a great assembly put on by the Cascade FFA officer team, under the guidance of Mrs. Ward. The officers (President Kylee Finn, Vice President Ian McKamey, Secretary Bridger Lewis, Treasurer Tyler Lane, Reporter Aubrey Hamlett, Sentinel Trent Lane and Historian Clair McKamey) started the assembly with Opening ceremonies followed by brief facts of FFA. Mrs. Ward then recognized all the students who have actively participated on the competitive teams. She shared the successes of these teams and those who have qualified to compete this year at the State FFA Convention, held in Billings. Many Cascade FFA students have worked diligently on 6 different LDE (Leadership Development Event) teams. Out of 6 teams who competed to qualify at Districts, 6 teams will advance on and represent Glacier District at state! The following is the list of LDE team accomplishments: 1st place - Parliamentary Procedure team (Kylee Finn, Ian McKamey, Clair McKamey, Audrey Rumney, Aubrey Hamlett and Bridger Lewis). 1st place - Conduct of Meeting (Trent Lane, Deyton Raether, Clair McKamey, Tre Butcher, Reece Hastings, Joelle Nelson and Bobby Rumney). Bobby Rumney placing 1st in Jr. Creed and Clair McKamey placing 1st in Sr. Creed. Ian McKamey placed 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking and Tre Butcher (a junior member!) placing 4th in Employment Skills (a senior level contest)! Cascade FFA also has 4 CDE (Career Development Events) teams, Livestock Judging, Agricultural Mechanics, Agronomy and Veterinary Science. Starting with the Livestock Judging team; There have been a constant 16 members (junior and senior members) who have practiced hard all year and have competed in 4 different judging contests throughout the year. Only the top 4 high placing senior members will go on and represent Cascade FFA on the Livestock Judging team. These 4 students are Hal McGregor, Tyler Lane, Sterling Byrnes and Isaac Okes. They have held their ranking and placed 1st in our district! March 13th will be the final round of contests for our 3 remaining CDE teams (Ag. Mechanics, Agronomy and Vet Science) to see if we can qualify for state competition. These students are working hard to memorize practicums, different identification categories, and hands-on activities based on each contest.

After recognizing all the students who have been competing, Mrs. Ward turned the mic back over to the Cascade FFA President, Kylee Finn. The officers then had the youngest members of Cascade School participate in a fun round of stick horse barrel racing, the junior high students had to "dig for the worm" by finding a gummy worm in a plate of whipped cream, and finishing games off with the high school students "Farmer Olympics" relay of carrying a 50# bag of mineral, tractor tire flip, hay bale carry and human wheelbarrow. Cascade Schools Principal, Mr. Wilson finished out our assembly by reading and signing the FFA Proclamation for celebrating National FFA Week. The officer team then wrapped up the assembly with the FFA closing ceremony. After the assembly, the officer team had put together a small petting zoo complete with a lamb, a kid (baby goat), a duck and a couple different chickens for the students to pet. The officer team shared some fun facts related to each animal as well. We also had a fun fact board for students to pull a lollipop that had ag facts attached to it.

Tuesday, February 18th, the Cascade FFA officer team advocated for agriculture by reading to all the elementary classes throughout the day. Picking different agriculture books, based on grade level, the senior officers with the greenhand officers read and participated in activities with each grade from pre k to 5th grades. Wednesday and Thursday we celebrated with our dress up days and FFA fun facts. Our dress up days consisted of Official Dress Monday, Tractor Tuesday (John Deere vs. Case), FFA Colors Wednesday and Farmers day off Thursday (wear PJs). It was such an amazing week celebrating National FFA week!