Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Martinson, Donnerbauer, Larsen, Clausen, Green, Franklin, Freidhof, Penterman, Trescher, Blank, Huffman, Stukenberg, Lowe, Ellickson, Damm, Kunz, Montgomery, Staszak, Bertram, Wilfert, Hetebrueg, Voigt, Zimdars, Kaderly, Sabel, Ladsten, Steinbach, Rusk, Bremmer, Watson, Quam, Olsen, Loritz, Scholz, Buchholz, Lader, Natzke, Follendorf, Johnson, Wollendorf, Stieglitz
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/20/2019
State FFA Convention Yields Honors, Awards for Clark Co. Chapters (8/9 February 2019)
Several Area Residents also Named to Council
Nearly 325 Wisconsin FFA Alumni members attended the 2019 Wisconsin FFA Alumni Association Convention. At the conference, a local educator in the Clark County area was honored and an area FFA chapter received a support grant. Two local alumni associations also received awards.
The Greenwood FFA Alumni received the Dr. V. O. Martinson Award, which is given to the FFA alumni group with the largest increase in annual membership percentage.
The Greenwood FFA Alumni received the Dr. V. O. Martinson Award for the largest increase in annual membership percentage at this year’s Wisconsin FFA Alumni Association Convention. Accepting the award on behalf of the Greenwood FFA Alumni was Nick Stieglitz, who is picture with Dan Wollendorf (l) and Rudy Kaderly of the Wisconsin FFA Association. Photo submitted
The Granton FFA Alumni also was honored. It was given the Ann Martinson Award, which is given to the chapter who has had the largest increase in lifetime membership.
The Granton FFA Alumni received the Ann Martinson Award at this year’s Wisconsin FFA Alumni Convention. The award is given annually to chapters that show the largest increased in lifetime membership ibn a given year. Char Johnson accepted the award on behalf of the Granton FFA Alumni. She is pictured with Dan Wollendorf (l) and Rudy Kaderly of the Wisconsin FFA Association. Photo submitted
The Granton FFA chapter was one of four chapters to receive support grants.
Jordan Donnerbauer, an educator for the Stanley-Boyd FFA chapter, was named the Outstanding Agriculture Educator.
New Council With Clark County Ties
The 2019-2020 Wisconsin FFA Alumni Council was established with four members coming from chapters partially or completely in Clark County.
Jerry Larsen of Unity will be one of the members of the council in Section 1. Larsen will be joined in Section 1 by Dave Clausen of Amery.
In section 2, Caleb Green of Stanley-Boyd will also have a spot on the council. He will be joined by Brenda Franklin of Baldwin-Woodville.
Section 7 will have two representatives from the area. Cindi Freidhof of Colby and Amy Penterman of Thorp will serve for Section 7.
Rounding out the council will be Derek Trescher and Chris Blank of Sparta for Section 3, Nick Huffman of Pecatonica and Jacob Stukenberg of Shullsburg for Section 4, Nick Lowe and Jack Ellickson of Stoughton for Section 5, Matt Damm of Columbus and Bobbi Jo Kunz of Waupun for Section 6, Bobbie Jo Montgomery of Waupaca and Gr ant Staszak of Bonduel for Section 8, Sara Bertram of New Holstein and Terri Wilfert of Mishicot for Section 9 and Gene Hetebrueg of Kewaskum and Amy Voigt of Lakeside Lutheran (Lake Mills) for Section 10.
The vice president of the council will be Nate Zimdars of Ripon. The president-elect is Rudy Kaderly of Juday. The president is Carl Sabel of Chilton, Mark Ladsten of Sauk Prairie (Prairie du Sac and Sauk City) was previously president. The executive director is Cheryl Steinbach, who is also the advisor for Granton FFA.
Other News:
The convention, which was at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn and Convention Center Feb. 8 and 9, was in its 39th installment.
The convention kicked off with the state council quarterly meeting The early afternoon attendees had the opportunity to participate in a three-stop tour of O’ so Brewing Company, Sunset Point Winery and Great Northern Distilling.
The primary festivities kicked off with a social and live auction on Friday night, followed by music from the Soggy Prairie band.
Saturday was packed full of an array of activities for FFA alumni members. Members from each of the 10 sections met early in the morning and then joined other sections to learn about what is happening at the state level and to plan for future conventions. National FFA Alumni executive director Joshua Rusk then shared the opportunities available through the National FFA Alumni Organization. The opening session followed and was full of numerous awards.
Four local chapters were recognized for their reactivation. Those included Brillion, Dodgeland, River Valley and West Salem/Bangor. American Family Insurance was recognized as a newly chartered non-traditional chapter.
The Oconto Falls FFA Alumni chapter was named the State Website Contest winner and Denmark won the newsletter competition.
“The 2018-19 Wisconsin FFA officer team played a vital role in the operation of the convention,” Steinbach wrote in a press release. “They were recognized for all being lifetime members of both the state and national FFA alumni and the 2017-18 team was honored for being named a 100-percent state lifetime team at the national convention this past fall.”
Members heard from the various leaders of the other organizations that are part of Team AG Ed and were presented the annual financial report and budget during the annual business meeting. The bylaws were amended to align the membership year to the national year and to clarify associate membership and council service.
The luncheon guests were all treated to a presentation by Kim Bremmer, creator of Ag Inspirations, a website and speaking venue with a mission to inspire famers to tell their stories, connect people to where their food comes from and present the successes of American agriculture today. After lunch, members had the opportunity to tour one of three places, Feltz Dairy, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point wastewater management program or Point Brewery.
Numerous workshops were also offered throughout the weekend on topics such as idea sharing and networking, parliamentary procedure and the story of agriculture. The Wisconsin FFA state officer team also presented an inspirational reflections program.
The banquet was full of numerous awards and recognition. Besides the awards to Clark County recipients,
Emily Watson of Elkhorn, who was presented with the Outstanding Young Member Award.
Chapter support grants were also awarded to Baldwin-Woodville, Darlington and Edgerton.
The Weyauwega-Fremont FFA Alumni was named the Outstanding State Chapter in the Small Division and Waupaca was named Outstanding Chapter in the medium Division. Winning the large Division was the Sauk Prairie FFA Alumni.
Denmark and Stoughton FFA Alumni chapters both received gold ratings in the national Outstanding Chapter Awards and will have their applications submitted to the national level of competition. Denmark was also recognized as the overall winner in this area.
Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented to Don and Barb Quam of Stoughton and Mark Olsen of Denmark. Olsen’s application scored gold, so he advanced to the national competition.
Joe Loritz of Denmark was presented the Team Ag ED Contributor award for his support of FFA, FFA Alumni and agriculture education.
Retiring council members were recognized. They ae Kim Scholz, Brian Buchholz, Larry Lader, Ken Natzke and Dan Follendorf. The current Wisconsin FFA Alumni president shared his final address and then turned over the gavel to Sabel.
The evening concluded with a live auction, silent auction and a performance by The Fun Pianos, a group that has been dueling pianos entertainment. All funds that are raised as part of the state convention are given back to support the FFA members through various state level programs.
