CNE FFA chapter celebrates year of growth, renewal
By Dick Maloney
One of Clermont Northeastern High School’s many successful programs took center stage – as well as left stage and right stage and, in fact, the entire gymnasium – April 20. That night, the school’s revitalized FFA chapter celebrated it accomplishments of the past year and looked toward 2023-2024.
The banquet, both formal and friendly, recognized the many chapter members who distinguished themselves locally, regionally and nationally, as family and friends gathered for a dinner of salad, barbecue, mashed potatoes, green beans and cookies. After dinner, old officers installed new officers – some moving over a seat or two on the dais, and essentially another handing the gavel to himself.
Junior Will Mathews will serve a second term as chapter president, and he already has obligations of the position down – shaking hands and posing for photos. Mathews presented awards to chapter members, and accepted several himself – so many that he lost count. He, and others, also put in the mileage – perhaps literally, marching across the stage countless times.
“I don’t know. I have to look at my watch later,” he said, asked about the total distance traveled.
It was all in fun for a chapter that has been re-energized under first-year agriculture education teacher and advisor Faith Stegbauer. Mathews wants to carry that momentum into his next term.
“I'm going to run this one lot more orderly, I think. We had a lot of great help past year. I only see it getting better,” Mathews said. “I'd like to get a lot more involved in a whole lot of different things. We're more involved than we’ve ever been this year, but there's always room for improvement. I think this year's going to be a good year.”
Junior Braydin Pride will serve as vice president. He and Mathews are close friends, and that synergy should benefit the chapter. Pride was the treasurer the past year.
“Vice president is … it's got a lot of responsive possibilities to it. If Will is absent, basically I take over the meeting at that time. And like you said, me and Will are pretty close friends. We’re really good with working with each other because of how close we are, and I'm really excited for next year to see what we can do,” Pride said.
Stegbauer helped organize the banquet, which was both scripted and at times extemporaneous.
“Miss Stegbauer headed it all up and really made it what it was tonight. We couldn't have done it without her,” Mathews said.
Stegbauer returned the praise.
“This officer team moving forward, we're just going to keep continuing to grow the chapter you know, participating in more events even than we did this year,” Stegbauer said. “Will, I think he’ll definitely really kind of blossom as a leader. He's a pretty good leader now, but he definitely is good with taking on that role. And I think that they'll just continue to grow over this next year and have a great year.”
They have impressed one visitor. Kennedy Short, a sentinel for the Ohio FFA, was the featured speaker at the event. A Wilmington College freshman and graduate of Fayetteville Perry High School, Short imparted a message of “meeting others where they are always serving everyone the best you can.” She talked of pride in wearing the FFA jacket.
Her travels as sentinel have taken Short to 25 chapters over the last 16 months, as well as Washington, D.C., and Costa Rica.
“I really think that the FFA is so much more than an ag organization. It's a family to me. So many people I've met along my journey have meant a lot to me,” she said. That includes the CNE chapter.
“I really think it's cool because the passion here is very vibrant and very … thriving, and it's really cool to see that even though we're so close together and I've never been here that it's the same at home as it is here. So I like it. It makes feel like I'm at home.”
Fayetteville Perry is also Stegbauer’s alma mater, so the two had a previous connection.
CNE will conclude its year by sending a delegation to the state FFA convention May 4 and May 5 in Columbus. Members will also participate in summer events such as the Clermont County Fair, and be ready when they return to school in the fall.
“I just wanted to give the message that this chapter is moving in the right direction, and that we're getting involved in more things and we're going to become a force to be reckoned with on the competitive level,” Stegbauer said.
Mathews’s goal is to leave an even better chapter for his successor.
“I’d like to be remembered by helping the chapter. We've kind of changed things, from how they were going to a lot better than what they were,” he said.
During the ceremony the FFA added and honorary members, high school secretary Jenny Leiman, and presented an Outstanding Service Member award to bus driver Brenda Wolf.
CNE FFA officers 2023-2024
These are the new officers for Clermont Northeastern High School’s FFA chapter:
President – Will Mathews
Vice President – Braydin Pride
Secretary – Rylie Pence
Treasurer – Makayla Blankenship
Reporter – Carla Evans
Sentinel - Savannah Pennington
Student Advisor – Alex Busam