Submitted by Cale Pellett

The 77th Annual FFA Member-Parent Banquet was held in the Atlantic High School commons on March 24. President and senior Marshal McDermott gave a short welcome and sophomore Lexi Freund gave an invocation. After the invocation, the officers and guests ate dinner first, followed by the other members. Before the meal, the banquet had two guest speakers present. Iowa FFA Alumni Representative Steve Dolch, as well as Atlantic FFA Alumni President Dave York spoke to the banquet.

After the meal officer reports were given. The secretary’s report was given by senior Savannah Sorensen. The treasurer’s report was then given by junior Clayton Saeugling. The FFA also had a third guest speaker, Mike McDermott. Following the speakers, junior Haley Carlson and freshman Cale Pellett gave the Annual Report of Activities, such as results from the Cass County Fair, National FFA Convention, and multiple FFA events throughout the year.

The next portion of the FFA banquet was dedicated to chapter awards. FFA advisor Eric Miller gave out the Chapter awards. The first award was the Academic Achievement Award. This is given to FFA members that have a 3.50 GPA or above at the end of the first semester, and has been an FFA member for at least 3 years. Senior Adam Freund received the award this year. There were three Star awards that members received. Freshman Emily Saeugling received the Star Greenhand, Sorensen received the Star Chapter Farmer, and Freund earned the Star of Agriculture Business award.

The Atlantic FFA Chapter chose two people to receive the Honorary Chapter Farmer Award this year. This included Amber Jipsen and Steve Jorgensen of Farm Service Co-op. The Atlantic FFA Leadership Award is given to a senior who has a superior record of scholarship, leadership, and agricultural work experience; McDermott received this award. Following the awards, 19 members of the Atlantic FFA received their Greenhand FFA Degrees while 17 members got their Chapter FFA Degrees. Freund and Sorensen both received their Iowa FFA Degrees as well, this year. The annual FFA banquet ended with the 2015-16 officers.

This year’s Atlantic FFA President is Clayton Saeugling. After being elected to office, he said, “(Being elected as President) really meant a lot to me. I’ve done so much through FFA and this will be another way for me to be involved with the chapter greatly.” He also commented saying, “I’d like to get more kids to participate in contests.”

Vice President is junior Garrett Schwanke, Secretary is Carlson, Treasurer is Freund, Reporter is Pellett, Sentinel is junior Emily McDermott, and the Student Advisor is sophomore Alexis Boes. The meeting was officially adjourned by newly installed President Clayton Saeugling at 8:40 pm.