By Preslee Hunter, Madyson Wilhelm, Corrina Sanchez, and Laura Mendez; Merced FFA Greenhand Officers
Over the winter break the Merced FFA Greenhand Officer Team Preslee Hunter (President), Madyson Wilhelm (Vice President), Corrina Sanchez (Secretary), Christian SantaMaria (Treasurer), Naomi Stagno (Reporter), Brenna Escobar (Sentinel), and Laura Mendez (Historian) got together for a team bonding meeting and photoshoot. They did different team bonding activities and got to know each other a lot better. They discussed many topics including what a successful officer team looks like to how they can all keep an open mind to each other’s ideas. Along with this, they had a team photoshoot to help promote the new officer team and give everyone updated headshots for their future applications.
Alumni Michael Sanchez, Lauren Palumbo, and Debbie Miller set up many different activities and projects for the team to participate in. One of the team
bonding exercises the greenhand officers got to do was a gingerbread house decorating contest. Officers were put into pairs to build and decorate their houses in 25 minutes. This activity sparked communication and teamwork among the pairs as they were able to bounce ideas off one another to create an outstanding end product. To their surprise, each pair got to work on their impromptu skills by creating stories and describing their houses to be judged by the California FFA State President, Marc Cabeliza. Before he judged their houses, he spoke to the team about the FFA organization and the amazing opportunities and experience he got from FFA. He encouraged them to take advantage of all types of experiences they are given within the organization to find their passions. Marc gave them a lot of meaningful advice that they will be able to carry out throughout their years in FFA. After the meeting he said, “I haven’t laughed over Zoom like that before, and it was refreshing to meet a younger group of students who didn’t necessarily know what FFA is all about. I can’t wait to meet them in person and see what they accomplish in the future!”
Following his talk came the judging of their houses. Each pair got to present their gingerbread houses and why they should win. Although everyone took their own creative spin on this project, he determined the winners of the contest were Madyson and Laura. Overall, the team had a great time making the gingerbread house and meeting the State President, Marc, and we wish him luck as he and his team host the California FFA State Leadership Conference in March
In conclusion, our Greenhand team had a lot of fun and are more than ready for the second semester to begin so they can put their plans and goals into action! Thank you to the guest speakers and California FFA State President, Marc Cabeliza for joining this event, as quoted by the Greenhand team, “Meeting State President, Marc Cabeliza was better than meeting Santa Claus!” This was truly a great experience for the team through meeting influential guests and learning more about each other. We cannot wait to see the impact they have on our chapter throughout their FFA career!
