Graceville FFA celebrates a great year with awards banquet

The 2024 Graceville FFA banquet was held this past April and started with opening ceremony. Graceville FFA Vice President Lana Wood called the roll of officers. After opening ceremony, Lana than introduced the special guests: Chris Franklin the Career and Technical Education coordinator, Sheriff Edenfield, Chephus Granberry the School Board Member for District one, Michael Jackson the School Board Member for District five, Shane Gilmore the Jackson County Farm Bureau Representative, and Rebecca Morris-Haid the Jackson County Property Appraiser.

After prayer and dinner, Appreciation Certificates were presented to Mrs. Melanie Baker, Mrs. Caroline Chappell, Mrs. Alana Franklin, S&W Auto’s Max and Lucy Polston, Mrs. Robin Layton, Mrs. Rebecca Morris-Haid, Mrs. Mary Carol Murdock, Sheriff Edenfield, Optimist of Marianna, Jackson County Farm Bureau, Michelle Watkins, Ken Stoutamire, and Samantha Angerbrandt of The Graceville News.

Graceville FFA Officers were then recognized. This year’s officers were president Camille Britt, vice-president Lana Wood, secretary Claire Lane, treasurer Caden Inscho, reporter Vivika Dickens, and sentinel Larame Gates.

The program continued with Camille Britt and Claire Lane being recognized for participating in multiple beef shows across the panhandle. Samaiyah Wilson was also honored for “catching a cow” at the National Peanut Festival and is currently raising it in the school’s land lab.

The chapter then recognized those who competed in multiple CDE’s, starting with Middle School. In Floriculture: Katie Burrell, Talayiah Olds, Madison Croft, Alexis Leonard, Adrianna Harvey, Bradley Johnson, and Skyler Deon. In Nursery Landscape: Elizabeth Dobbs, Tristan Glover, and Brayden Jones. In Aquaculture: Cayden Braswell, Jousha Garrett, Jasmine Reed, Darius Sims, Antwon Johnson, and Annuhlise Guinand. In Land Judging: Kyla Baker, Tyreece Kelsey, Ahnastasia Knox, and Miracle Thomas.

Several middle school members were also given their Discovery Degree. Those presented with the Discovery Degree included Tyreece Kelsey, Skyler Deon, Katie Burrell, Adrianna Harvey, Bradley Johnson, Alexis Leonard, and Madison Croft.

High school members were then recognized for their Career Development Events. Lana Wood was recognized for Extemporaneous Speaking, De’Auana Robinson for Creed Speaking, and Eladio Ramirez for Safe Tractor Operations.

The chapter’s Horse Judging team was then recognized for placing high in competition. Team member Claire Lane was also recognized for placing 4th highest individual in competition. The team consists of Camille Britt, Claire Lane, Chloe Coulter, Lana Wood, Jazmine Evans, Keshawn Daniels, Miah Fountain, and Vivika Dickens.

The Dairy Judging team was also recognized as it went to state and placed 12th in competition. The team was composed of Camille Britt, Claire Lane, Vivika Dickens, Lana Wood, Jazmine Evans, Miah Fountain and Keshawn Daniels.

The Livestock Evaluation Team consisting of Camille Britt, Claire Lane, Lana Wood, Jazmine Evans, Miah Fountain, and Keshawn Daniels was also spoken about as well as the Aquaculture Team which included Caden Inscho, Nijalyn Cole, Chloe Jordan, and Claire Lane. Other members recognized included De’Auana Robinson and Jazmine Evans for their Ornamental Horticulture Demonstrations. The group also noted that several members had tried new competitions this year. Those teams included Nursery and Landscape (Larame Gates, Tucker Keene, and Jonathan Bogue), Floriculture (Nijalyn Cole, Chloe Jordan, Bryana Smart, and Samaiyah Wilson), and Agriculture Mechanics (Craig Laster, Shawn Schemer, Jonathan Bogue, Lucious Hernandez, and Tucker Keene).

The program continued with high school members being presented with various FFA Degrees. The first degree for high schoolers is the Greenhand followed by the Chapter Degree which is the highest a local chapter can give. Tristan Haller, Zaria Nedd, Samaiyah Wilson, Jazmine Evans, Chloe Jordan, Bryana Smart, De’Auana Robinson, and Tucker Keene were all awarded the Greenhand Degree. The Start Greenhand Degree was awarded to Jazmine Evans. Charity Fountain, Chloe Coulter, Keshawn Daniels, Claire Lane, Lana Wood, and Vivika Dickens all earned a Chapter Degree.

The program began to conclude with this year’s Honorary Membership presentation. This year, Graceville FFA’s honorary inductee was Amity Britt with the group noting, “Mrs. Britt has been a huge help to our chapter this year, she is always ready to help in whatever way needed. We could not have been successful in our Turkey/Ham sale in November and our Strawberry sale in March. Since Mrs. Franklin was away and sick on both delivery dates, Mrs. Britt made sure everyone got their correct orders to deliver.”

The final awards of the evening included President Camille Britt being presented with the Leadership Award and Marlee Strickland being named this year’s Scholarship Award recipient for having the highest GPA in the chapter as well as Caden Inscho being presented with this year’s Work-horse Award. Shane Gilmore of the Jackson County Farm Bureau then presented Camille Britt with this year’s SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience) Award.

The evening finished with seniors who had been members of FFA for four years receiving their graduation cords and the High School Officers receiving their officer pins from Mrs. Franklin.

Photo Cutline: Pictured from left, vice-president Lana Wood, sentinel Larame Gates, secretary Claire Lane, Graceville FFA Sponsor and Ag Teacher Mrs. Cindy Franklin, president Camille Britt, reporter Vivika Dickens, and  treasurer Caden Inscho.

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