Talk About Clyde: Area FFA member brings home Ohio Star Farmer Award
Allison Michaels, rural Clyde, a 2023 Bellevue High School graduating senior, received the 2023 FFA Ohio Star Farmer award. She applied online for the award and learned she was one the top four finalists, but said she was totally surprised when it was announced at the FFA State Convention that she was the winner.
The award is given to the FFA member with the top production agriculture program each year and is considered one of the highest recognitions in the nation for an aspiring young farmer. It recognizes achievement in both career and leadership development. She received $2,000, a plaque and a medal.
She also applied for other awards and placed first in proficiency awards for Diversified Crop Production Entrepreneurship, second in Grain Production and second in Fiber and/or Oil Crop Production.
Michaels' FFA projects include farming 40 acres of land rented from a neighbor, Bill Dagg. When Dagg approached her parents, Keith and Kris Michaels, about renting some of his farmland, Allison told her dad that she wanted to rent the acreage. She rotates between growing soybeans and corn, doing all the planting and harvesting herself, using her dad's farm equipment.
She said she is 100% independent in the field. "I like it all," she said. "The payoff in the end of hours put into hard work." When she obtains a pesticide license, she will also do her own spraying. "Another credential," she said. Testing for that license was not offered in our area this year, she said.
Her FFA adviser is Jeff Karcher. Michaels said she loved everything about FFA, from the early morning meetings to the many hours spent on the school bus traveling to FFA events. "They're my second family," she said. Her FFA projects also include raising cattle and hogs for meat. She said her FFA involvement at BHS is based in Huron County. She was chapter president for the 2022-2023 year and secretary the year before. She placed in many FFA competitions: third in the district for job interviews (past two years), public speaking contest; and was part of a livestock team. She placed third in the district and was 23rd in the state for the Farm and Ag Business Management contest.
In addition, she is a member of the Riley Buckeyes 4-H Club in Sandusky County, raising and showing hogs at the Sandusky County Fair. She had served a year as president and two years as secretary. She attends St. Mary's Catholic Church in Clyde.
Her goal is to become an Ag instructor and she will attend Wilmington College in Wilmington with a dual major, Ag Education and either Agronomy or Animal Science, with a minor in Chemistry.
She was also one of the Top 10 in her graduating class at Bellevue High School on Saturday.
Jazz coming to museum lawn
Mark your calendars for Friday, June 16, when a soft jazz group, the Chris Buzzelli Quartet of the Toledo area, will be performing at the Clyde Museum at 124 W. Buckeye St. from 6 to 8 p.m. It will be a night of soft jazz music performed on the lawn of the museum. Bring a lawn chair or blanket for seating. One can also place a lawn chair on the street, which will be closed for the concert that evening. Admission is free.
Snacks and beverages (soft drinks, iced tea, lemonade, bottled water, and pre-packaged snacks) will be provided free of charge to concert-goers. Donations can be made for the refreshments but are not required.
Parking will be available in the alleyway parking lots behind the museum (enter from Forest Street), on-street parking on Main Street, the downtown plaza on Railroad Street, and the parking lot at the former First Financial Bank on the corner of West Buckeye and George Streets.
The concert is sponsored by the Clyde Heritage League of Clyde and other local donors. If there is inclement weather, the concert will be moved inside to the Hurd Room of the museum. For updates, visit the museum’s Facebook page, Clyde Museum and General McPherson House or call 419-547-7946. The Clyde Museum is open 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and the General McPherson House is open by appointment only.
Jeanette Liebold Ricker writes about Clyde and Green Springs. Contact her at 419-547-8177 or by email at jeanette.ricker@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Jeanette Ricker writes about Bellevue High School grad from Clyde area
