This year state institute was a great success! Our stay at the Red Lion was quite enjoyable. On February 2, 2012 we started institute off with a bang while the snow was blowing outside. Our social that night was hosted by Auctioneers Miller & Associates and was a great way to get institute off to a good start. Fortunately, everyone made it down safely through the snow storm that blew in Thursday and lasted until Saturday morning. Some were unable to make it due to the heavy snow we received, but we are glad everyone stayed safe. We started out the day on Friday with a business session to get everyone up to date on the current news and activities of the CYFEA. We also had all applicants for the state officer team turn in their applications and give a short speech about themselves. This year we had 5 applicants, ranging from many chapters. Their interviews were held on Friday as well and the results were announced Saturday morning. On Friday we also had workshops on “Drip Irrigation as an Alternative” as well as “Water Policy Decisions and Tools.” It is easy to see what the big issue is in Colorado agriculture and water was on everyone’s mind at institute and these workshops gave us plenty to think about in the next year. Our entertainment of the day joined us at the Luncheon as well as at the Wild West Saloon Casino Night, which was Ralph Duren that presented “Calls of the Wild.” He showed off his ability to mimic many different animal calls, from the wild turkey to elk. Saturday got off to a great start with another business session where we had to present the nominating committee report and extend bids for the 44th State Institute. We also had the Spokesperson for Agriculture Contest, with three CSU students participating. Shelby McCracken came in first place with his speech on Agriculture Education. Later on Saturday afternoon we had a workshop on “Young Farmers-Where do we go from here?” This workshop allowed members to present their input on what they hope to do in the future. We have a great resource in the members of the CSU chapter, because they are our future and future agricultural education teachers and they were able to provide their view point at this workshop. Everyone came out of this workshop having some things to think about and needing to think of where they hope to take young farmers. We also had a workshop on website training to help all chapters maneuver the website to the best of their ability. Our banquet provided an end not only to the institute but to the year. We had a presentation by Sam Zakhem titled “I’m Proud to be an American” which really touched and inspired everyone. Our many awards were then presented to show off the outstanding members of our chapters. After installing our new 2012-2013 officers the banquet and institute came to an end. Much was accomplished during this year’s institute and we are all ready to take on the next year.
Spokesperson for Agriculture Contest
(l to r) Mike Flesher-American AgCredit, Sponsor; Shelby McCracken-CSU Chapter, First Place; Bailey Field-CSU Chapter, Second Place; Jessica Millstein-CSU Chapter, Third Place and Jacqui Larson-Coordinator
2012-2013 Colorado Young Farmers
Educational Association Officers
Front Row (l to r) Tyrell Williams, Secretary, San Luis Valley Chapter, Ignacio; Bryson Miller, President, Fort Morgan Chapter, Brush; Back Row (l to r) Ben Christensen, Treasurer, San Luis Valley Chapter, Blanca; Rebecca May, Reporter, Colorado State University Chapter, Brush, Allan Carlson, Vice President, St. Vrain Chapter, Longmont and Dan Ross, Immediate Past President, Yuma Chapter, Yuma
The Front Range Chapter dolls at the Wild West Casino Night
Outstanding Colorado Young Farmer Chapter
Front Range Chapter
(l to r) Steve Sterkel-Advisor, Greg Winter representing Syngenta Seeds and Darrell Johnston-President