Us History 2 Essay, Research Paper

Some thoughts and observations concerning the FFA Brd. of Directors Meeting over the weekend.

Financially, the Nebraska FFA is in good condition. There are about $40,000 sitting in reserves, about $52,000 available for use as needed – this is counting the $40,000 in reserve.

The new national award applications will be mailed out to each of us the end of July or early Aug. They will arrive on CD-ROM disks. You will find that the questions in the beginning story have been reworded. They will all be Microsoft Excell templates. All are free. A question was raised about compatibility with MacIntosh – answer was unknown so those of you with Apple systems may want to do some checking on that.

A memorandum of understanding between the FFA and 4-H was adapted but not without considerable discussion. This is not something new. It existed a long time ago and this is simply an updated and revised version. Dr. Ward signed the most recent prior version of it. I voted for this memorandum.

Two key statements in this memorandum raised the most concern: “For purposes of exhibition, this means an animal can only be nominated and shown in one organization or the other, not both.” It seems that in some counties when beef animals are tagged at weigh-in, they are tagged both 4-H and FFA, one in one ear, one in the other. Other’s simply hand a tag to the owner, often two, and they can tag them before a show whichever way they want to go. I’m not aware of any of that in our area and I do believe that where awards are sought from both organizations – what is 4-H should be 4-H and what is FFA should be FFA.

The second statement did not receive much discussion: “When participation level does not warrant separate contests in the same discipline area, the contests may be held simultaneously.” This appears to be commonly happening in many county fairs and shows across the state already.

State FFA Convention was reviewed. I didn’t think anything new came from the review. The schedule we received earlier remains pretty much intact – minor changes only. Busses – there will be 5 running at key times, morning, noon, and late afternoon. There will be 3 the rest of the time. Animal Science and the Cornhusker will be the only stops. JUDGES ARE NEEDED FOR THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS EVENTS. If you know someone, contact the State Office. Ken, I did raise your concerns about additional supervision and the additional costs. Not much reaction.

State Degree was discussed, and cussed. Not much was accomplished since no one was there with any concrete suggestions for change or revision. I believe the problems are becoming more and more prevalent and I think today there are, at least five and perhaps seven, who really are concerned that State Degrees are being granted to people who really haven’t earned that honor. We are also seeing more district review teams that are not consistently evaluating all candidates. So, what is important in the State Degree review situation? The only suggestions of substance was that all Board Members come to the July meeting able to answer that question with the feelings of their district. I will try to throw out some suggestions later from my perspective but don’t wait – you can start this discussion as easily as I – and the e-mail is the way to do it for now. At some point, Mike needs to pull us together and we all need to discuss – and cuss – the process and give me some direction. An observation, from the appeals we reviewed, I’m not as concerned about the record book as I am about the record keeping practices being carried out. No matter what we do with a record book, if people try to shortcut the accumulation of FACTS, we still end up with junk!

The new website is partially up and will be completed soon. ne.aged.org Give it a try and let me know.

Powerpoint is accepted for visual aids in the LSE’s.

The cost of MFE was discussed. There is a postponed motion to drop MFE and go to two leadership labs to hold costs down. MFE this year sent $24,750 to the National FFA from Nebraska. Motel costs are also a concern. Interesting.