News/Blog

We are thrilled to announce this year’s NCATA Winter Conference, scheduled for January 12th and 13th, 2024 at Orange High School.  The conference promises to deliver an enriching experience with a diverse lineup of 24 workshops covering topics such as Agricultural Mechanics, Animal Science, Horticulture, Middle School Courses and Performance-Based Measures. 

Our aim is for this year’s conference to provide tangible and measurable insights that you can seamlessly integrate into your classrooms.  As you gear up for registration, we encourage you to look over our workshop options and their descriptions to tailor your conference experience to your specific needs.  

On Friday, our Board of Directors will conduct a 4:00pm board meeting to review committee reports and board proposals.  We invite any member with ideas to submit a Board Proposal using the provided form prior to January 5th, 2024.

In addition to the workshops and board meeting, committees will convene at 5:00pm on Friday, January 12th, offering a valuable opportunity for collaborative work and discussions to conduct the work of our organization. 

Owls night out will take place at the Hot Tin Roof in Hillsborough from 8:00-10:00pm.  All conference attendees are invited to join, if you plan to attend please include this in your conference registration so that we can have an accurate headcount.

REGISTER HERE

If you are in need of lodging for Friday, January 12th, we have several options:

1. Comfort Inn & Suites Durham – 15 min away from Orange High School, or OHS
   • 1816 Hillandale Rd.  Durham, NC 27705
   • (984) 789-4455  Hotel Website
   • Free hot coffee and hot breakfast
   • State Rate for Standard King or Double Room is $89.10/night plus tax. We have a room block at this hotel. Room block reservations must be made by December 28, 2023.
   • You can book by calling the number above and asking for the “NC Ag Teacher Room Block,” or by using this link (also linked on our registration form.) Room Block Booking Link: https://www.choicehotels.com/reservations/groups/GY11A0   

2. The Colonial Inn, small availability – 5 min away from OHS
   • 153 W King St.  Hillsborough, NC 27278
   • (984) 789-4455  Hotel Website
   • Standard King Room $172-215 per room. 

3. Holiday Inn Express Hillsborough – 10 min  away from OHS
   • 202 Cardinal Dr  Hillsborough, NC 27278
   • 919-644-7997 Hotel Website
   • Continental Breakfast Included
   • State Rate for Standard King Room or Double Room is $109/night before taxes. 

4. Courtyard by Marriott Durham- 15 min away from OHS
   • 1815 Front St.  Durham, NC 27705
   • (919) 309-1500 Hotel Website
   • On-Site Restaurant
   • State Rate for Standard King or Double is $115/night before taxes.

Please reach out to executivedirector@ncagteachers.org, if you have any conference or registration questions.

Northwood is a two teacher agriculture program located in Chatham County. Courses taught include Agriscience, Animal Science I and II (food animal and companion animal), and Horticulture I and II. Laura Smith and Lindsay Davis have students compete in over 10 CDE’s and LDE’s that vary from Forestry to Poultry Judging to Cattle Handling to Food Science. They also have a very active livestock showing team with students exhibiting beef cattle, dairy cattle, and sheep. Lindsay and Laura place a heavy focus on community involvement and stakeholder engagement. Each month, they host a community event or community service project. An annual student favorite community service activity is our Hero Helper’s Program in which 25+ students volunteer their time over Thanksgiving Break to do a fall clean up of community member’s yards who are front line workers, first responders, or veterans. Students run a large spring plant sale, animal mentorship programs where they’re responsible for raising bottle lambs and goats, and several individual enterprises and school based SAE’s on campus throughout the year. As a chapter, they participate in regional, state, and national leadership conferences as well as state and national conventions. 

The West Central Region is proud of this dynamic teaching duo! Way to go Laura and Lindsay!

Planning is well underway for the 2024 Winter Conference. Mark your calendars and save the date for January 12-13, 2024 at Orange High School! This event is open to both members and non-members. We are focusing this year on objective specific workshops for agriculture courses.

The NCATA Board Meeting will be held on Friday, January 12th. It will be immediately followed by the Owls Night Out Social at a local venue. More details TBA.

Conference workshops will be held on Saturday, January 13th at Orange High School from 8AM to 3PM. More details and registration will be sent in the coming weeks. Please reach out to April Pittman (executive director@ncagteachers.org) or Caroline McKee, Winter Conference Committee Chair, (cmckee@randolph.k12.nc.us) if you have any questions.

It is not too late to join NCATA for the 2023-2024 membership year. For early camp registration, NCATA membership is due by October 31st, 2023.

Please encourage potential first time members to join and take part in our New Member Special. Membership is discounted to $100 for first time members. This is a great opportunity to share the benefits of NCATA and encourage professional standards in our organization.

 We now offer the following payment methods:
1. Pay directly on the checkout page with your credit card information
2. Pay using the PayPal service
3. Pay using a Check
Please send all check payments to our NCATA Treasurer, Matthew Greene, at 800 Old Boiling Springs Rd, Shelby, NC 28152

To renew or make a first time purchase on our website, click on the “Join NCATA” link on our menu at ncagteachers.org. 

Here are guides to help you through the process:
How to join NCATA for the first time
How to renew your NCATA membership

Please email NCATA Executive Director, April Pittman, with any questions regarding membership at executivedirector@ncagteachers.org.

South Central Region News

The South Central Region held its largest Regional Leadership Conference with 538 FFA members registered. 💙💛

Student Excellence:
Jacob Wilson from the West Columbus FFA Chapter is on the NC FFA website for the October SAE spotlight for Diversified Agriculture Production!

The South Central Region will be representing NC with 3 teams, Agriscience Fair Finalist and Premier Chapter at the 96th National FFA Convention!
 

• Lillie Greene from the West Columbus FFA Chapter will be competing in Creed LDE. 
• The Lumberton FFA Chapter will be competing in the Agricultural Communications and Ag Sales CDE. 
• Cadence Shaw from the Lumberton FFA Chapter will be recognized as a TOP 10 National Finalist 
• Lumberton FFA is a TOP 10 National Finalist for the Premier Chapter Award in the Strengthening Agriculture category. 

Northwest Region News

The Northwest Region is growing and we currently have 22 teachers in our region who have taught for 5 years or less in our region.  We are proud to recognize those new agriculture teachers who were “raised” in the agriculture programs and departments across the 15 counties in our region.  We are excited to have so many who are  returning to their roots and look forward to the great things to come from their programs!

Haylee Bare – Ashe County  
MaKayla White King – Alexander Central
Julia Coltrain – Bandys*
Malachi Curtis – East Burke
Sara Lowe – East Surry
Hannah Gordon – Freedom
Savanah Hager – Lake Norman
Courtney Elledge – North Iredell
Ethan Holland – North Iredell
Austin Rash – North Iredell
Sawyer Ferguson – South Stokes
Sarah Johnson – Surry Central

* This is the first year that Julia has taught in the NW region, having moved back home after teaching for several years in Eastern NC.

West Region News

The West Region has many exciting events happening this Fall!

Polk FFA will host “Halloween at the Farm” on the evening of Halloween at their high school farm from 3:30pm until 5:30pm. 

Many of our chapters in the West participated in the Dairy Steer Project at the NC Mountain State Fair. 

East Rutherford is hosting an Ag Ed Day. Check out the flyer here.

Please see the flyer below for details about North Buncombe FFA’s Livestock Team Fundraiser Auction.

West Central Region News

Abby Craven is the agriculture education teacher at Uwharrie Charter Academy Middle School and Elizabeth Farmer is the agriculture education teacher at Uwharrie Charter Academy High School. The UCA Middle School Chapter was chartered on September 6,2023. They have hit the ground running with a total of 62 members, 30 of which are active in the program. Currently, they have a forestry team and a livestock judging team in place. The middle school first chapter fundraiser is the fall mum sale and will help build up our FFA funds for future activities. Mrs. Farmer, the high school ag teacher, and Abby have collaborated on team practices, FFA meetings, getting our land lab in the works, and attending wildlife camp with our students. We try to blend the two programs as often as possible because the stronger the programs, the more success as students. 

Uwharrie Charter Academy Newsletter

Uwharrie Charter Academy High School FFA was chartered in 2017 with a beginning total of 10 members and has grown to be the largest and most involved club available at UCA today. This year, we made the decision to switch to an affiliate program and we will have 130 members. We are dedicated to serving others and building the skills of our members through many opportunities for service, learning, and more while having fun in order to leave a lasting impact. We regularly go on field trips for our monthly chapter meetings and have many events for our members and community throughout the year like a Thanksgiving luncheon, laser tag, day at the zoo, and the state fair just to name a few. We have the best students involved which makes FFA fun at UCA High School and we are excited to continue to grow and develop our program! We are also very excited to have partnered with the UCA Middle School program and offer combined chapter events such as kickball. This has been a great benefit to both programs and an excellent opportunity to allow our programs to grow and bond!

Pictures: Uwharrie Charter Academy FFA Officers and fun at the Ice Cream Social.