Fillmore FFA Advisor Mr. Joe Ricards holding the perpetual trophy for the Herdsmanship Award.

Wow! The 2011-2012 school year is off to a great start for Fillmore FFA! It began with coming home from a successful week at the Ventura County Fair. All those Thursday night showmanship practices really paid off. The winners of swine novice showmanship are as follows: 4th place, Oscar Negrete; 3rd place, Helena Replogle and 1st place, Eddie Cardenas. Swine advanced showmanship: 7th place, Hailee Smith; 6th place, Christian Perritore; 5th place, Felicity Zavala; 4th place, Jennifer Martin; 3rd place, Andrew Perez; 2nd place, Sierra Blankenship and 1st place, Marc Zavala. Steer advanced showmanship: 4th place, Brittany Gurrola; 2nd place, Samantha Wokal and 1st place, Aaron Largen. Replacement heifer advanced showmanship: 2nd place, Macie Wokal and 1st place, Micah Chumley. Breeding heifer advanced showmanship: 1st place, Brooke Aguirre. Lamb novice showmanship: 2nd place, Zahydie Martin. Everyone did an awesome job training their animals and it really showed through these awards. The exhibiters who are awarded 1st place in showmanship compete in a contest called Round Robin. This is where the exhibiter must show each market animal, i.e. goat, lamb, steer, heifer, and pig. The results of Round Robin are as follows. FFA novice showmanship: 3rd place Eddie Cardenas. FFA advanced showmanship: 5th place, Micah Chumley; 3rd place, Brooke Aguirre; 2nd place, Marc Zavala and 1st place, Aaron Largen. The results of the swine market are as follows: FFA Grand Champion Marc Zavala; Overall Reserve Grand Champion Marc Zavala. Replacement heifers: FFA Reserve Grand Champion, Micah Chumley; FFA Grand Champion, Macie Wokal; Overall Reserve Grand Champion, Micah Chumley and Overall Grand Champion, Macie Wokal. Breeding heifer: Reserve Grand Champion, Alexus Galassi. Not only did individual Fillmore FFA members show excellence at this years fair, but as a chapter we were awarded the Herdsmanship Award. The Herdsmanship Award is given to the chapter that that keeps their barns the cleanest, has members readily available to answer questions and represents their chapter the best. To top off the week, Fillmore FFA welcomed a new born calf to the world. Alexus Galassi’s cow, Talula, gave birth to her heifer calf Thursday night at fair. The calf, who was named Kaliapi, is now at the Fillmore School Farm and doing well. Congratulations to everyone in Fillmore FFA for doing such a great job!

We also have a new addition at Fillmore High School. Along with the other agriculture classes, Fillmore High School now has an Environmental Horticulture class. This class is taught by Mrs. Roderick who is also the new Fillmore High School Dean of Students. Everyone is excited for this new class and happy to welcome Mrs. Roderick to our high school.

Fillmore FFA held their annual Buyer’s Banquet on August 25th. The people who bought animals from Fillmore FFA members were invited to this dinner. This is a way of showing our appreciation to the generous buyers. Thank you to everyone who supported the Fillmore FFA exhibiters at the 2011 Ventura County Fair.

Are you a Flashes football fan? If so, don’t forget to buy your hot, fresh and tasty popcorn from the Fillmore FFA Boosters Club! This fundraiser helps students attend leadership conferences and activities. Also by the snack booth, Fillmore FFA parents and members are helping cook and make the tri-tip sandwiches at each home game. Hope to see you there!

Brooke Aguirre is Fillmore FFA's Chapter Reporter