Where is the cow going to plop?

Hey everyone! Carson Senators will be having the Homecoming football game on September 22nd at 7 o'clock against the North Valleys Panthers. During the game, we will have a guest cow at our school near the entrance to the field. This is for cow plop, which is where a cow could possibly poop on your randomly assigned square and you could win money. FFA members will be going around and selling these squares up until the 21st of September. Please look for us if you want a square or call Mr. Mann at 283-1690! You can purchase one square for $5 or 5 squares for $20. First prize is $250 and you are entered in a random raffle for $75! Please come see the cow sometime during the game! Also, Agriculture Science 2 students will be making all of the flower for the Homecoming Royalty! Please buy a square to support the Capitol FFA Chapter and come to the homecoming game on September 22 to support the Carson Senators!

Who's Stationed by the Plow?

Hi, my names Ivy! And I'm here to tell you a little about me myself and I.First I am your 2017-2018 Vice President! And I'm very excited to be that and to serve our chapter in every way I can with that role. However if you would have told me my freshman year that as a junior I'd be a chapter officer I wouldn't even know what you were talking about. I joined Ag my freshman year of high school. I wasn't active in it my freshman year. To me it meant nothing and I wasn't interested in going to meetings or participating in much of anything my freshman year. However as a sophomore I was more comfortable as a student and in all of my classes. I began to take Ag more seriously. And I started to get more and more into it. Throughout the year I went to meetings and started to see more and more the importance of the program and all of the students in it. As I meet more of the students in Ag I feel more and more at home which i didn't think could be possible! I was excited when I ran for a chapter officer because realized that was only the beginning. But when I got Vice President I was ecstatic because it meant that I would have more power to do things to help our chapter. As Vice President I am looking forward to all the things we  can do as a chapter this year! I and our fellow officers have some great ideas on how to help grow us as a chapter and grow you as the student. Yet another thing I am looking forward to growing in our SAE’s. The reason why I feel it's important to grow in this area is because even to this day my SAE is still a very basic one:taking care of my dogs. As the Vice President I want to expand what we do for our SAE’s. With all of this being said I am excited to be your Vice President this year. And i'm looking forward to watching everyone of you grow the way I have.

This Years President Is....

Hello, my name is Maritza Filson! I am the President of the Capitol FFA chapter and the Western Zone Treasurer for 2017-2018 school year. This is my first year being on the officer team, third year being in an agricultural class, and my second year being involved in FFA. I look forward to serving my chapter this year and the next.

I first took an agricultural science class by accident when my first choice elective was taken in my freshman year. However, agricultural science and FFA has forever changed my life for the better. The number one reason why I joined FFA was to see what the organization could offer me scholarship and resume wise. However, shortly after doing this I realized that was not the point of FFA. I have committed myself to FFA because I realized what I could offer my chapter and community. FFA still has given me so much because I have been given the opportunity to participate in many SAEs (supervised agricultural experiences) and CDEs (career development events). My SAEs include working with the aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics systems located on CHS’s campus (pictured lower left). Last year I participated in the nursery landscape CDE, where I won first high individual and third place team overall. This year I look forward to participating in Nursery/Landscape, Soils, and the Agriscience Fair. Also, look out for more blog posts coming later where different CDEs (both plant and animal related) are explained and a post about hydro, aqua, and aeroponics.

In the future I look forward to going to university and majoring in plant biology, botany, or plant science. Depending on where I am accepted, I am considering being a state officer for Nevada. It would truly be an honor to serve Nevada and its FFA members. After attending university, I would like to go to a graduate school in hopes of attaining my doctorates degree in a plant related study. I am currently unsure what I want to be exactly, but hopefully I will work with plants and make a difference in world’s agricultural industry.

9 steps to writing an awesome blog post

by Kathie Taylor, In Plain Sight Marketing

OK, so Mr. Mann has assigned you a blog post to write, and some marketing lady came to class to talk about blogging before 7 a.m.

In. The. Morning.

In case you were sleeping a tiny bit, here’s a recap on how to write a kick-a$$ blog post. This is one assignment where your writing will be seen by people other than Mr. Mann and maybe your mom, so you want it to be good. Here are nine steps to writing a good blog post, liberally borrowed from my friends at HubSpot and reframed for my audience.

1.      Understand your audience. 

No, it’s not Mr. Mann and it’s not even your mom. And someday, you may be writing for a really big audience, like Congress, so this one is important.

Who ARE you writing for? In this case, it’s your classmates, teachers and maybe community partners like that lady from the marketing company or people who will or may potentially donate to FFA so you can go to state or nationals. At the very least, your blog post may go out on the FFA Facebook page, so anyone interested in FFA may read it.

But no pressure.

Ask yourself:
·        Who reads or will read your blog?
·        Who do you WANT to read your blog?
·        Why are you blogging? (and no, it’s not because you have to for a grade – it’s because you have something interesting to say. Really.)

2.      Pick a topic and a working title. 

You may have been assigned a topic, which is pretty cool because if you’re planning to be a blogger, coming up with topics is sometimes a challenge. If not, you have to come up with something.

Go back to number 1 above – who is your audience? What do they want to know? Try to imagine you are explaining FFA or your agriculture class your Great Aunt Mabel. What kind of questions would she have? What does she want to know?

There. Now you have a topic.

Let’s say she wants to know how to grow lettuce. You can write a big general statement about growing lettuce for one blog post – but what if you have to write a blog post every week about growing lettuce? How can you get more miles out of this topic?

Turn it into a specialty topic:
·        How to grow lettuce indoors
·        How to grow lettuce in sandy soil
·        How to grow lettuce without soil
·        How to grow romaine lettuce
·        How to grow iceberg lettuce (and so on)

Change the timeframe:
·        What you missed about lettuce growing season
·        The biggest trends in lettuce growing in 2017
·        Growing lettuce in winter months

Create a niche audience
·        What every mom in Carson City should know about growing lettuce in winter
·        What every school district official should know about growing lettuce in the CHS greenhouse

Go negative or go positive
·        10 Community gardening rules you should always follow for growing lettuce
·        10 things to never do while growing lettuce

Try a new format
·        Your lettuce growing checklist
·        The Ultimate guide to growing lettuce
·        Infographic for growing lettuce (infographics are an awesome way to say a lot of stuff in a graphic. Google “infographic templates” for free resources.

See how much you can blog about growing lettuce? At least 15 blog posts right there – almost four months’ worth!

3.      Write your introduction

First: Get their attention with the first paragraph or they’re gone forever. You may have a lot of information to get through, so don’t be boring in the very first paragraph. 
·        Tell a joke or a story
·        Appeal to their emotions
·        Use an INTERESTING fact or statistic

Then: WIIFM (What’s in it for them?)  This is The Most Important part of any blog post.
·        Explain the problem you are solving for your audience – remember, it’s for them
·        Tell them how this information improves or enriches their lives

4.      Organize your content

Back up at #3, we said you probably had a lot of information to share. What’s the best way to get it out there so it doesn’t resemble your science textbook?
·        Create an outline
·        Break it into sections and maybe even sub-sections. Nobody wants to read a brick of solid text.

5.      Write! It’s the best part!
Blogs are fun because it’s not a school report or a business plan or some other odious (look it up

–it’s a great word!) task. You can inject your personality, make it as fun as you like while still providing value to your audience. It’s why they are still with you.

That being said:
·        Use your thesaurus – Google “odious synonyms” and see what comes up. So many great words exist – use them! Your writing will be more colorful and memorable.
·        Always, always, always use attribution. You’re going to do research and use stuff you find on the internet or …a book?... to help you make your points. Be sure to acknowledge where the information comes from (see paragraph 3 at the top.)
·        Do not plagiarize! Mr. Mann, and just about every other teacher in the world has told you this, so we’ll just leave it at that.
·        Use the research tool in Google Docs and crowdsource with your peers for input before you publish.

6.      Add photos and images. 

How boring are research papers? Insert photos into your blog post. Ideally, they are real, authentic photos from whatever project you’re working on. So much more interesting than stock photos. (See other items in this list.)

However, if you have to use stock photos:
·        Use images from free stock photo sites if possible
·        Usually ok to use images from the internet for school/educational purposes
·        Not ok to use images from the internet for business/commercial purposes

7.      Use spell check and prufreed yur werk.

Nothing is more embarrassing than someone else pointing out your typo, spelling error or grammar flub. Don’t let it be your work everyone on Facebook is talking about.

At my marketing firm, nothing goes out without at least three sets of eyes on it first. We proofread each other’s work several times before we publish it. 

8.      Review your title. 

By this time, you’ve said everything you need to say. Does your title still match your content?

Now that you’ve been madly typing, having fun with words and proving your expertise in the subject, you’ve probably come up with something droll (google “droll synonyms” to see more awesome ways to say funny). If not, see the title of this blog post for an easy, but sure way to grab a reader’s eye. Lists are good, but witty, lighthearted titles are better.

9.      Give yourself credit.
Write a pithy (check it out – it’s the last one) author’s statement to follow your awesome blog post so people can learn a little something about you.

About the author: Kathie Taylor is the co-owner and managing partner of In Plain Sight Marketing LLC, a Carson City based public relations and marketing firm. Kathie has been writing since junior high school, when they spelled her name wrong in the school paper. Which is a really long time.