Illinois Ag Connection - Stars Honored at State FFA Convention

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Stars Honored at State FFA Convention
Illinois Ag Connection - 06/20/2018

The Illinois Star Awards were announced at the 90th annual Illinois State FFA Convention.

"Be Bold" was the theme of the three-day event which recognizes achievements of Illinois FFA members, elects the major state officer team, and celebrates agriculture. Students at the convention were greeted with activities including a career fair featuring colleges and agribusinesses, an evening dance and talent show, and an opportunity to engage in the history of Illinois' capital city. The Convention's 2018 service project benefitted children through "The Crayon Initiative," which collects old, used crayons and creates new ones for distribution to art programs at children's hospitals across the nation. The convention program featured addresses by National FFA Southern Region Vice President Ian Bennett of Georgia and from each of the retiring major state officers. More than 5,000 other FFA members, advisors, and guests attended the June 12-14 event.

Illinois Star Awards honor FFA members who have developed the organization's most outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their Supervised Agricultural Experience, demonstrated outstanding management skills, and earned the State FFA Degree -- the Illinois Association FFA's highest degree of membership. Eligible FFA members must also have met other agricultural education, scholastic, and leadership requirements.

Star in Agribusiness: Peyton Tester, of the Hillsboro FFA chapter, is the son of Dan and Ann Tester of Witt; his FFA Advisor is Kate Niemeier. For his Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Peyton manages the trucking company, PDT Express Inc. He currently owns one semi-trailer that hauls commodities across the country. Peyton plans to manage and grow this business throughout college and in the future

Star in Agricultural Placement: Milan Leman, of the Prairie Central FFA chapter, is the daughter of Chad and Kim Leman of Fairbury; her FFA Advisors are Kyle Miller, Becky Freed, and Kole Stadt. For her Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Milan is a farm laborer at Zehr Acres, which raises dairy heifers for Stoneridge Dairy as well as smaller dairies and usually has 2,000 calves on the farm. About 840 of those calves are in individual huts. Her responsibilities include feeding them milk, water, grain, starter, and a total-mixed-ration (TMR), as well as bedding and scraping the barns, bedding the huts, vaccinating, sorting, processing, and overall managing the calves. She also bales and stacks hay, straw, and corn stalks for bedding and feeding the calves and operates the manure spreader, skid loaders, and other equipment required to efficiently manage the calves. Milan also runs the disk ripper, auger cart, and grain bin systems to harvest corn and mix it with the TMR. Her SAE has taught her significant time management skills and work ethic.

Star in Agriscience: Jonathan Poole, of the Chicago Agricultural Sciences FFA chapter, is the son of Thomas and Susan Poole of Chicago; his FFA Advisors are Ima Eno and JaMonica Marion. For his Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Jonathan has conducted a wide range of studies and activities related to food science and technology since the stemming of his interest in the food science pathway in high school. He has participated in the USDA AgDiscovery Program and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and researched the conversion of food in to ethanol, the pretreatments of food dehydration, and maize post-harvest processing.

Star Farmer: Jonathan Timm, of the Cisne FFA chapter, is the son of Jason and Jennifer Timm of Iuka; his FFA Advisor is Jennifer Timm. Jonathan's Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) includes enterprises in swine production, show pigs, and commercial fat pigs. Jonathan raises a total of 72 head of Duroc, Berkshire, Hampshire, and crossbred swine. He markets show pigs and fat hogs as freezer meat and retains show gilts as replacement females. Jonathan utilizes artificial insemination and a herd boar in his operation.

The following two junior high students were named 2018 State Discovery Stars:

Star Discovery Farmer: Delana Erbsen, of the Eastland FFA chapter, is the daughter of Kevin and Wendy Erbsen of Lanark; her FFA Advisor is Cindy Feltmeyer. For her Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Delana breeds, raises, and shows her own herd of registered Holstein cattle. She exhibits at the county, district, state, and national levels and also competes in dairy knowledge competitions across Illinois and the nation. In the future, Delana plans to expand her herd and compete in FFA Career Development Events. She looks forward to a career in the dairy industry.

Star Discovery in Agricultural Placement: Lizzie Schafer, of the Pana FFA chapter, is the daughter of Aaron and Sue Schafer of Owaneco; her FFA Advisor is Brian Wood. Lizzie's Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) is based on her work at Schafer Stock Farm with an Angus cow/calf herd. Her responsibilities include daily feeding and chores, checking herd health, assisting in chute work, breaking calves to lead, preparing sale cattle, and assisting customers. Lizzie has logged 1,100 hours, and she plans to continue this work in high school.

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