L U M N I. Dear Friends,

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1 J U LY N e ws l e tt e r enmark FFA L U M N I Dear Friends, July 4th came and went this week. I can't believe summer is basically half over. The warm weather is finally here and the rain has finally stopped for a few days. Ground has been broken on the new green house. As many of you know, the alumni has been pushing for a green house for the past number of years. On Sept. 1st, the green house will be able to have its first class making a long time dream come to reality. We had a tremendous fruit sale this year. We also added meat packages from Melotte Distributing which went over very well. Thanks to Joe Loritz and Marianne Krueger for their hard work on this fund raiser. The golf outing is just around the corner on August 8th. This has been a tradition for the past 15 years at Wonder Springs in Wayside, WI. If you are able to help out at this event, please give me a call. Our biggest event of the year is coming quickly. The Brown Co. Fair starts on Aug. 17th. The alumni has been asked to sell drinks for many of the events this year which is a big part of our profits. I am asking for many more volunteers this year. If you can help on any day during the fair for any amount of time, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Josy Wavrunek ( ) if you can help out. As always, please do not hesitate to call me with questions, concerns, or new ideas of how the alumni can become better. James Grasee

2 Come join us for the 15th annual Blue & Gold Golf Outing on Monday Aug. 8, 2011 There will be a hole-in-one contest for a new car, and also 3 other prizes. Betting holes and a booze basket raffle will be some other events we will have. All proceeds will go to help with FFA activities throughout the year. If you are interested in golfing, please contact James Grasee at We are also looking for volunteers, so contact James as well if can help out. Nicole Star - Nicole Calaway placed in the top 10 for Star in Agricultural Placement. Denmark FFA Alumni Honored At State Convention Calaway Wisconsin Star in Agricultural Placement Finalist... Nicole Calaway was named a 2011 Wisconsin Star in Agricultural Placement Finalist. This award recognizes students who have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs. There are ten finalists in the Ag Placement category. Nicole s parents are John and Lori Calaway. Nicole works with dairy and beef cattle, as well as miniature horses in her SAE. Although growing up on her family s diary farm, Calaway always wanted horses, but had nowhere to keep them. Five years ago she began helping with a neighbor s miniature horses. Her herd of beef cattle are also kept at another farm due to the same space issues. Showing is an excellent opportunity for Nicole to let people know beef breeds are still popular. Livestock shows provide the opportunity for Calaway to showcase her dedication to her animals and to cultivating strong genetics. Pleasure driving is one of the areas in which Nicole competes with the neighbor s miniature horses. This competition judges how quickly Calaway as the driver can move the horse from gait to gait. Nicole hope to purchase a small farm after she graduates from college, where she plans to raise beef cattle and miniature horses while working in business accounting. Thank you to Cooperative Network and ANIMART, Inc. for sponsoring this award area.

3 Brown County Fair It's that time of year again, and the Brown County Fair this year has the usual activities of the rodeo, animals of all kinds, and crafts, as well as musical entertainment. This year entertainment is provided by Lee Brice, Brumm Blas Zak's Royal Bengal Tiger Show, tractor and horse pulls also Gandrud Auto Group PRCA Rodeo, and much more for you to enjoy. Come join us at the fair, and be sure to visit the Denmark FFA Alumni Food Booth where all the proceeds are used to help with Denmark FFA activities. Stencil Receives Three Star Leader Award... Kaila Stencil daughter of David and Shelley Stencil received the Three Star Leader Award at the 82nd State FFA Convention at the Exhibition Hall Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI, June 15, The Three Star Leader Award is based on the local FFA chapter qualifying and receiving, in the current school year, at least a bronze rating in the National Chapter Award Program. The Three 3 Star - Kaila Stencil receiving the Star Leader Award recognizes a selected FFA member from a local Three Star Leadership Award chapter for being actively involved in chapter activities in Student, Chapter and Community Development. Kaila has been actively involved in planning events such as Hamburger and Pizza Day, Ag Tours and the A-Z puppet show. All of these events promote agricultural literacy amongst students of various ages throughout the Denmark School District. Three Star Leaders received a pin and certificate sponsored by ANIMART, Inc. Selner Places Third in State Discussion Meet... Emily Selner represented Section 9 during the State FFA Discussion Meet held during the 82nd State FFA Convention in Madison. Discussion Meet - Emily Selner placed 3rd in the State Discussion Competition. The Discussion Meet Contest tests the abilities of FFA members in cooperatively discussing agricultural issues, exchanging ideas and information and finding solutions to issues or problems. Modeled after the Farm Bureau Group Discussion Meet contest, contestants give a 30-second opening statement, participate in 15-minutes of discussion, and finish with a one-minute closing statement.

4 Convention Participants... Front Row: (L-R) Liz Lacenski, Brad Ripp, Allison Kozelek, Lauren LeFevre, Amanda Gauger, Morgan Jensen, Kaila Stencil, Colleen Galligan, Jake Kraynik, Sarah Wanek. Back Row: (L-R) Tony Lau, Marissa Becker, Brittiny Schroeder, Anne Krueger, Emily Selter, Nicole Calaway, Sarah Frelich, Nathan Keup, Alex Rukamp, Kyle Kropp and Collin Christenson Selter Places Third in State Discussion Meet...continued To qualify for the state finals, Selner competed in several other contests during the past five months. These included: the district, sectional and state semi-finals at Madison where Selter was among the top four in the State. Emily placed 3rd overall. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation sponsors the State FFA Discussion Meet Contest. FFA Convention in Madison The Discussion Meet Contest tests the abilities of FFA members in cooperatively discussing agricultural issues, exchanging ideas and information and finding solutions to issues or problems. Modeled after the Farm Bureau Group Discussion Meet contest, contestants give a 30- second opening statement, participate in 15-minutes of discussion, and finish with a one-minute closing statement. Denmark FFA Alumni President James Grasee congratulates Joanna Wavrunek for placing a 3rd gold in the Home and Community Development Proficiency Area. Denmark FFA Alumni sponsored this proficiency area. To qualify for the state finals, Selner competed in several other contests during the past five months. These included: the district, sectional and state semi-finals at Madison where Selter was among the top four in the State. Emily placed 3rd overall. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation sponsors the State FFA Discussion Meet Contest.

5 FFA Members Receive State FFA Degrees... Josh Shimanek, Nicole Calaway, Sarah Frelich, Sarah Wanek, Brian Heezen, Tyler Schlies, Tyler Kozlovsky and Brittney Kane received their Wisconsin State FFA Degree while at the State FFA Convention. The Wisconsin FFA Association gave this degree to only 428 of it s 18,000 plus members. The State FFA Degree is the highest degree a state association can bestow upon its members. To be considered for this honor the FFA members must meet the following minimum qualifications: have productively earned and invested $1000 or worked 1500 hours; been a FFA member for at least two years and had 360 hours of agricultural classroom instruction; given two speeches, each a minimum of five minutes in length and been participated in five cooperative activities. Badgerland Financial through the Wisconsin FFA Foundation sponsors the state FFA Degree charms. Denmark FFA among top 25 in State... MADISON, WIS. The Wisconsin Association of FFA celebrated 82 years of premier leadership, personal growth and career success at the Wisconsin FFA Convention in Madison June 13 to 16. The convention attracted 3,135, advisors, parents, alumni and sponsors to celebrate their year s success and support for students involved in agricultural education. Denmark had a total of 34 FFA members, alumni and guests in attendance at Convention. Thank you to the Denmark FFA Alumni for helping sponsor this event! Members competed in various award areas, served as delegates who voted on items of FFA business, attended workshops and meet new friends from all areas of the state. They also listened to inspirational messages from keynote speakers including Jonathon Sprinkles and National FFA Officer James Flatt. The Denmark FFA was selected as one of the top 25 FFA chapters in the state of Wisconsin based on activities that they organize and participate in. They earned a Gold advancing to Nationals ranking on their National Chapter Award. They were also selected as one of the top ten chapters when it comes to Chapter involvement. Denmark placed third overall in Chapter involvement. Denmark s scrapbook put together by Kaila Stencil was a blue ribbon scrapbook and Denmark FFA s website ran by Collin Christenson also received a blue ribbon. Lauren LeFevre and Kaila Stencil served as the delegates for Denmark. They attended meetings where they voted on constitutional and by law changes as well as selecting the new state officer-representing Section 9. Denmark received the P.R.I.D.E. Award for increasing their membership by at least 10 members this last year. Lauren LeFevre accepting the 3rd Place trophy for Chapter Development.

6 In addition... Denmark had seven students receive a gold rating on their Proficiency Awards that are based on their current Supervised Agricultural Experience. Nicole Calaway placed 8th in Specialty Animals and 5th in Beef Production. Joanna Wavrunek placed 3rd in Ag Communications and 3rd in Home and Community Development.. Jess Roethle placed 3rd in Floriculture and Sarah Frelich placed 6th in both Agricultural Mechanics Repair & Maintenance and Beef Production. Nicole Calaway was a Star Finalist in Agricultural placement. Denmark also had four members participate in the State FFA Band: Sarah Wanek, Liz Lacenski, Colleen Galligan and Tony Lau. The following three members participated in the State FFA Choir: Allison Kozelek, Brad Ripp and Amanda Gauger. Sarah Wanek, Liz Lacenski and Brad Ripp were nominated for the National FFA Band & Choir. This year s National FFA theme is Infinite Potential and Wisconsin students have taken Infinite Potential to a new level. Last week was a celebration of the student success and recognition of FFA activities conducted across the entire state of Wisconsin. FFA is making a positive difference in today s schools and communities. Students enrolled in agricultural education in Wisconsin schools and who are members of the FFA have a fantastic opportunity for leadership and career development, said Wisconsin FFA Executive Director Cheryl Zimmerman. The Wisconsin FFA Convention is our opportunity to recognize the importance of educating our society about agriculture and the achievement of young people who are the future leaders of the agriculture industry. The FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. For more convention information, visit An update on the Greenhouse... The project is moving along as planned. Ground breaking ceremonies began Tuesday May 3rd and construction is expected to be completed around September 1st. The Greenhouse will measure 24 feet by 72 feet overall, and the active growing space will take up about 48 feet of that space. The new facility will offer students hands on experience in growing, measuring, harvesting and studying all different types of plants. The general building contractor for the Greenhouse is DeLeers of Green Bay. Natural Beauty of Denmark had an open house June 24th and 25th. Part of the proceeds went to help support the new Greenhouse. The FFA Alumni is proud to be donating $5, per year for the next 10 years. Everyone is excited for the opportunities the Greenhouse will bring. Spring Fling The spring fling was held at the Maribel Community Center on March 26th. We had over 90 members attend. Entertainment this year was a hypnotist. Thank you to the four poor souls that made themselves look like fools to entertain you all. Also, a big thank you to Todd Christiansen and Joe Loritz for cooking all the steaks again.

7 School District of Denmark 450 N. Wall Street Denmark, WI NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID DENMARK, WI PERMIT NO. 32 FFA NEWSLETTER Check out the FFA and Alumni website at