Featured Chapter
Featured Chapter
Mountain Empire FFA
Mountain Empire FFA is in the rural Mountain Empire Unified School District , located in eastern San Diego County . The district spreads across 660 square miles and covers nine different communities between the towns of Descanso , Jacumba , and Potrero . The bucolic countryside has cattle , poultry , swine , horse ranches , vineyards , and oat hay fields . The Mountain Empire High school was founded in 1916 . Our FFA chapter was established in 1996 and Kelly Tulloch , founder of the Mountain Empire FFA , has been the advisor ever since . Over 30 % of the approximately 360 students in the high school are enrolled in ag biology , ag chemistry , ag mechanics , and / or floral design classes . All ag students participate annually in the Eastern San Diego County Junior Fair and San Diego County Fair .
Since the chapter ’ s establishment , it has become a large part of the small community and we volunteer for many activities throughout the year . Some of the major activities include a canned food drive for Thanksgiving , North Pole Ltd . Christmas Train at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum , and Adopt-a-
Family program to give gifts to families in need during the holidays .
One of our biggest activities that we do is the North Pole Ltd . Christmas Train , something special to our area . Every year our agriculture program teams up with other clubs from Mountain Empire High to volunteer as elves on the train . One night in December , we ride along on the vintage train , passing out cookies and hot chocolate to the passengers , reading stories , singing Christmas carols , and bringing the North Pole to life for young children . Another way we encourage students to participate in community service is through a canned food drive . If they bring in a certain number of canned items they may join in the turkey bowling competition . A bowling alley is set up in the school ’ s hallway with pins on one end . The students then roll a frozen turkey ( note : turkeys are not round ) to knock down the pins .
The chapter is also involved in many competitions including Opening / Closing , Parliamentary Procedure , CDE teams including horse & livestock judging , farm records , creed , impromptu , prepared , and extemporaneous speaking contest , and job interview . Our officer team consists of the six standard officer positions with a Historian , two delegates , and this year our Vice President was elected San Diego Section Sentinel .
Our chapter was a part of the reenactment of a historic photo taken along the beach of La Jolla in 1906 . At the time , there was a dairy in La Jolla run by the family of Jeremiah Lee Holliday . During the afternoon , the Holstein cows belonging to the Long Beach Dairy would wander onto the beach to relax for the day . The photograph has become an important part of San Diego history . Last year , the Mountain Empire FFA donated time and two out of the eleven Holstein heifers to reenact the new ‘ Cows at the Beach ’ photo shoot .
For FFA week , we nominate up to four members of our high school staff to ‘ Kiss the Cow ’ on Friday . Members of the committee take the decorated coffee cans for each staff member around the school . Students vote for their favorite by placing money into the cans
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California FFANEWS • Page 4 • Winter 2016