I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and is enjoying their time off school. I can't believe that it's the holiday time already, it seems that this year has just flown by! I guess time flys when your having fun and your staying busy. Over the past few weeks I've been to National Convention, the officers had a meeting, and I helped conduct leadership nights at River Valley and Upper Sandusky. So far the leadership nights have went very well and I think everyone who has attended them has had a blast. Well I need to wrap this up so I can go get ready to for Kenton Basketball's season opener against Bellefontaine. My cheerleading coach has been having cheerleading two-a-days for the past 3 weeks so I'm really excited because we're going to look awesome this year! Take care Ohio FFA!

Katie McCullough
District 6 President

Thank goodness it's finally cooled down! I don't know about you but I am really enjoying this colder weather we've been having. I'm pretty sure fall is my favorite season. Fall means football games, pretty leaves, and chapter visits! This week I was at Elgin and Northwestern Clark conducting chapter visits and I had a blast at both schools!

Monday I was at Elgin High School which is just outside of Marion. My workshops went fairly well that day. I have to say thank you to Nick for helping me navigate Marion and making sure I got back from lunch just on time! I think the funniest thing when I went into Marion to eat was seeing a lady in a motorized wheel chair in the left turn lane. I even took a picture and if I could post pictures on my blog, I would defiantly post this picture. I also went to Northwestern Clark this week and had a blast there! I really enjoyed seeing the projects their Projects Class was working on. They are currently ripping the floor off of a trailer thing and it's taking them a while because it's welded on there better than they expected. I also learned some good and bad things about school food while I was at Northwestern Clark. I won't go into the bad (sorry Josh), but I did learn that there is such a thing as a chicken pretzel. I never knew chicken could take the shape of a pretzel. I would have to say at both the chapters I visited this week, I might have learned more than the students.

In other news, the Buckeyes are still undefeated and they take on Kent State tomorrow. My sister set a new record for most goals scored both in a season and career on the Kenton girls soccer team. Now I have to get ready to cheer on my Kenton Wildcats as they take on Wapak tonight. Go Cats!

Whoa! It seems like it's been forever since the last time I've blogged, probably because it has been a very long time. Just to let you know, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, I'm still here and I've had a very busy end to my summer. Let me update you...

Back in August I was at the FFA Center for a day with Shalie and Anna. Later that month I also was a counselor at my county's 4-H camp, had an officer meeting in Columbus and went to the West Virginia State Fair. While I was in West Virginia I had the opportunity to meet Commissioner Douglass, head of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. I also met with members of local FFA chapters. I also started school in August. So far the work has been fairly easy, except for Calculus and AP English.

September started with the Hardin County Fair. Even though it rained and the parking lot became a mud pit, I don't think I have ever had so much fun at a fair. Dustin came and visited the Hardin County Fair and my painting won grand champion! Ok, so it wasn't my painting, but I was in it! Congratulations Jodi Hassan on a job well done! The infamous COLT Conference also took place in September. Rhett Laubach was a huge hit with the crowd and I think everyone learned something new. I know during the activity where everyone switched jackets I learned that it makes me nervous when other people have my jacket on. Hopefully the rest of my September is just as exciting as the beginning.

And in other news, my Kenton Wildcats are 1-2 in football and we play Elida tomorrow. I'm hoping we can come out with a victory! As a cheerleading it's sort of boring when we don't have anything to cheer about. And how about those Buckeyes? 2-0...GO BUCKS! I am also proud to announce that I am a new Appalachian State fan! Anyone who can beat Michigan is just fine with me! Well, that's all I've got for today. Take care Ohio FFA!

Katie McCullough
District 6 President

Now that I'm finally home, all caught up on my sleep, and have seen everything that has happened in good old Kenton, Ohio while I was gone (my uncle got a new house, my mom remodeled our kitchen, Dad bought me a sheep, and my fair pigs got moved)...I can now blog about everything that went on at wonderful FFA Camp Muskingum.

2nd Session was a blast! The officers were so excited when the first campers arrived at 12:30 that Monday afternoon. We helped them move their stuff into the dorms then took the camp picture (which I look awful in, I'm not even looking at the camera!). I enjoyed playing cards with everyone on the upper porch when it rained during free time. I also got to meet some really amazing people at camp whom I will try to stay in contact with, but if there was one thing that just made my camp, it was the dances. The music was awesome and I don't think I have ever seen so many FFA members get involved in a dance. Thank you to all who attended 2nd Session and made it so enjoyable for me.

Between 2nd and OLC the State Officers had time to run into town and do some laundry, which turned out to be a disaster. By time we had all the laundry washed, we didn't have time to dry all of it, so we had to bring it back to camp and line dry everything. It was quite a sight to see 15 people's clothes all hanging out to dry. Even the camp staff made fun of us.

Ohio Leadership Camp was also a great time. During OLC, I had the opportunity to go through Living History, which might have been one of the most moving experiences ever. We acted as runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad and went to different stops were we experienced what it was like to actually be a slave trying to escape. Brandon and Justin from the National FFA also joined us at OLC to present workshops to us which were fast paced and entertaining to be in. During OLC I also met some of my D6 officer team for the first time and I am very excited about working with them over the next year. Overall, OLC was a pretty good camp.

By the time 3rd session campers came to camp, the SO's were really tired, but found some energy to greet the new campers and hopefully make their week at camp a memorable one. This blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't thank Justin for dragging me up to the shotgun range so I could shoot a shotgun for the first time. I had to have been absolutely hilarious shooting a gun. I also need to thank Maggie from East Knox for drawing a portrait of me, which probably just made my week. During 3rd session I went on the overnight, which got sabotaged. The advisors hid our luggage and left us clues that led us all over camp... not to mention the water balloons that were thrown at us. But don't feel too sorry for us, we still had a blast at the overnighter.

Well, there it is, my camp experiences wrapped up in one short novel. If you haven't been to camp yet, hopefully I'll see you 5th session. Take care Ohio FFA!

Kathryn McCullough
District 6 President

Hey hey Ohio FFA!

I think the only word I could use to describe this last week is AMAZING! The whole officer team met again in Columbus, but this time for an entire week full of training. I don't even know how to begin to tell you what a priceless experience all of the officers had. We had the pleasure of spending the entire week with Anita Estes, one of last year's national officers. She was truly an inspiration to everyone and her knowledge will help us tremendously throughout the year. She taught everything from servant leadership to travel etiquette to how to respond to e-mails and letters. I think everyone kind of became attached to her by the end of the week. It was rather sad when she had to fly back to Nebraska.

Our taste buds were also stretched almost everyday. We had the opportunity to experience Greek and Italian foods, which I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. In addition to different food experiences we had unique dining experiences. Monday the officer team ate lunch with Dr. Newcomb and Dr. Moser, two deans at THE Ohio State University. Both gentlemen were very nice and pure genius in their fields of study. Wednesday night the SO's had the chance to dine with some great FFA supporters, George and Cookie Ruff, at the Athletic Club of Columbus for our formal etiquette dinner. Here we learned a lot more than just etiquette. We were taught the history of the Athletic Club, the Ruff's told us a little bit about them (Mr. Ruff was the state Secretary back in the 1960's), and we took a tour of the facilities at the Athletic Club of Columbus.

One of the most touching activities we participated in was volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Ronald McDonald House, it is an actual house ran entirely on donations and volunteer help that takes in the families who have ill children in the hospital. In the house there are over 40 rooms, several play areas, a laundry facility, and a massive kitchen. Meals are served almost everyday in the kitchen and the Ronald McDonald House only asks for a small, optional donation from the families who stay. While there, the SO's met some families whose stories really touched our hearts and made us realized how lucky we are. Our duties while there were to clean some parts of the house. Let me tell you, when we were done, that house looked good. After helping a great cause, we all felt like we had really accomplished something and felt good about ourselves.

Some other activities I really enjoyed in Columbus was developing my "outer-potential" (you’ll see what I mean when you see my new officer picture), and jamming out in the one and only corn car with Dustin and the gang.

By now I have written you a novel to read and I need to get back to planning for the upcoming camps. If you haven't signed up yet...you need to! I think there are still some spots left in sessions 4 and 5. The state officer team is planning an amazing camp and I wouldn't miss it for anything! Incase your wondering, I will be attending all sessions, so I hope to see you there!

Take care Ohio FFA!

Kathryn McCullough
District 6 President