Congratulations to Midland’s FFA Advisor Jamie Christiansen who was surprised at a student assembly today during FFA Week and was named the Northeast Iowa Golden Owl Finalist. She is one of only 7 FFA Advisors in the state of Iowa to receive this recognition. The Golden Owl winner will be named at the 2022 FFA State Convention.
Ms. C received multiple nominations for this award last fall. She goes above and beyond when working with her FFA team and her students. During 2021 she helped three teams make it to national competition and they all finished in the top 12 in the nation.
A big thank you to her FFA officer team, co-advisor Jen Westphal and FFA Alumni member Sarah Fishwild who helped to pull off the surprise assembly. It started with a game of “Are you smarter than an ag teacher?” with former FFA advisor Keith Kleis participating alongside of Christiansen and Westphal against three ag students. The tenth question was “Who is the 2022 NE Golden Owl Finalist” and the answer of course was Ms. C and everyone there knew the answer except for her!
Some special guests joined the fun via zoom including former students Sydney (Stender) Hadacek and Elli (Slouha) Lineburg, former principal Carol Guenther, her former FFA Advisor Mike Retallik (from ISU) and Chelsea Ahrensdorf a fellow FFA sponsor. Jamie’s brother and sister-in-law also attended the award presentation. Also in attendance were a KCRG reporter, Anamosa Journal-Eureka reporter and Kim Buchholtz taking photos for MCSD.
Ms. C was awarded a $500 check and a plaque. We wish her well in the next round of competition. With the time she has put into our Midland FFA Chapter we know she will surely be hard to beat! Again CONGRATULATIONS and GOOD LUCK JAMIE! #EaglePride
