National FFA Convention:Wyoming students compete and earn honors at annual event
The 95th National FFA Convention and Expo took place Oct. 26-29 in Indianapolis, Ind. Top competitors from the Wyoming FFA State Convention headed to the event to compete against high school students from around the nation.
Speaking events
The Extemporaneous Public Speaking event is designed to recognize FFA members for their ability to prepare and present a factual speech on a specific agricultural issue in a well thought out and logical manner. Ethan Jackowski of the Cheyenne Frontier FFA, Bree Coxbill of the Southeast FFA and Wyatt Stillwagner of the Amity FFA earned bronze emblems in this event.
Sarah Turner of the Cheyenne High Plains FFA won a silver emblem in the Prepared Public Speaking event. This event is designed to recognize FFA members for their ability to prepare and present a factual speech on a specific agricultural issue in a well thought out and logical manner in a competitive setting.
Leadership
development events
Participants in the Agricultural Issues Forum event research the pros and cons of an agricultural issue and present their findings to a panel of judges. The team of Aspen Nesvik, Hailey Cooper, Carlene Barbour, Lily Routh, Katerina Carson, Jordan Kennedy and Ashley Kisicki, all of the Cheyenne High Plains FFA, placed fourth in the event, earning a gold emblem.
Participants in the Employment Skills event prepare a resumé, cover letter and complete an online application. They also participate in phone, one-on-one and panel job interviews as part of the competition. Jhett West of the Sheridan John B. Kendrick FFA earned a bronze emblem.
The Cheyenne High Plains FFA earned a silver emblem in the Parliamentary Procedure event. Students participating in the event are evaluated on their ability to conduct an orderly and efficient meeting using parliamentary procedure.
Career development events
The Agricultural Sales event includes actual sales presentations, a written exam and a team sales situation. Each team competed at local and state levels for the privilege of representing their state at the convention. Klacie Groene, Carleigh Dugger, Sarah Birdsall and Teryn Stokes, all of the Torrington-Lingle FFA, placed fourth in the competition, earning a gold emblem.
The Agricultural Technology and Mechanical Systems event helps students develop technical knowledge and an ability to work with others to solve complex agricultural problems. Riley Klasinski, Kade Benton, James King and Hutson Bowe, all of the Buffalo FFA, placed 10th in the competition, earning a gold emblem.
The Wheatland FFA earned a gold emblem in the Agronomy event. The event challenges students to build and demonstrate knowledge in the wide field of agronomy.
The Environmental and Natural Resources event focuses on testing students’ problem solving and decision-making skills in environmental and natural resources. The Snowy Range FFA earned a silver emblem in this event.
Garret Ellis-Rudd, Hayden Paxton, Jose Jimenez and Ty Strohschein, all of the Paintrock FFA, placed sixth in the Farm and Agribusiness Management event, earning a gold emblem. The event is designed to test the ability of students to apply economic principles and concepts in analyzing farm and ranch business management decisions.
The Horse Evaluation event is a competitive event testing students’ ability to select and evaluate horses. Zane Hayward, Gavin Masters, Morgan Rouge and Paiyzli Baker, all of the Pinedale FFA, placed seventh, earning a gold emblem.
Coming in at fourth place in the Livestock Evaluation event was the team of Miranda Dickinson, Brekken Hornecker, Spencer Hansen and Nolan Hornecker, all of the Casper FFA. They earned a gold team emblem. The Livestock Evaluation event tests the students’ ability to select and evaluate livestock.
The Meats Evaluation and Technology event tests students’ skills and competencies in evaluating and identifying meat carcasses and products. The team of Elijah Fletcher, Barbara Martin, Riley Lake and Kolton Lake, all of the Snowy Range FFA, placed eighth, earning a gold emblem.
Participants in the Poultry Evaluation event select live meat-type chickens for broiler breeding, evaluate and place live egg-type hens and rate the finished product by evaluating and grading ready-to-cook carcasses and parts of chickens and turkeys. Kinley Wade, Kenzia Martinez, Kymber Stinson and Grace Baas of the Snowy Range FFA earned a silver emblem in the event.
The team of Abigale Hyttinen, Tiffany Tystad, Molly Oakley and Rylee Hudson, all of the Coal Country FFA, placed seventh in the Veterinary Science event, earning a gold emblem. In the event, students worked in teams demonstrate their technical competency with small and large animals by completing a written exam, critical-thinking scenario questions, identifications and hands-on practicums.
In the Marketing Plan event, participants develop practical marketing skills while creating and presenting a marketing plan for a local agribusiness. The Casper FFA won a silver team emblem in this event.
Agriscience fair
Lilliana Hogan of the Chugwater FFA placed second in Division One of the Animal Systems category.
Other Wyoming finalists earning gold emblems in the National FFA Agriscience Fair include: Gage Pittsley, Cruz Mascorro, Alec Martinez and Hayden Johnson, all of the Big Springs FFA, Thermopolis Middle School; and Payton Helton of the Shoshoni FFA.
American FFA Degree
The American FFA Degree is the highest degree achievable in the National FFA organization. It shows an FFA member’s dedication to his or her chapter and state FFA association. It demonstrates the effort FFA members apply toward their supervised agricultural experience and the outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement they exhibited through their FFA career.
American FFA Degree recipients show promise for the future and have gone above and beyond to achieve excellence.
Eligibility requirements for students include: State FFA degree; active member for the past three years; completed at least 540 hours of agricultural education: maintained records of at least $10,000 in earnings, with $7,500 of that productively invested, have a record of outstanding leadership abilities and completed at least 50 hours of community service.
Wyoming’s American FFA Degree recipients include: Talon Andersen, Konnor Macy, Ashley Schrage, Tyler Schrage, Breann Swing, Skylar Tharp, Elizabeth Voss, Wyatt Wyman, Dani Warner and Cameron Michel of the Chief Washakie FFA; River Bills, Laurel Rozema, Ashlee Webber and McKinley Kessler of the Buffalo FFA; Kassidy Brooks, Virginia Wing and Lexis Mann of the Casper FFA; Shane Dawson of the Lander FFA; Calista Dugger of the Torrington-Lingle FFA; Delaney Gardea of the Green River FFA; Lainey Konetzki, Maggie McStay, Colter Sharp, Braden West and Paige Padilla of the Sheridan John B. Kendrick FFA; Madison Lupher, Tel Malone and Michael Newton of the Jim Bridger FFA; Cambree Miller of the Lovell FFA; Dusty Miller of the Rocky Mountain FFA; Joslyn Strohschein of the Wright FFA; Katie Vigil of the Star Valley FFA; and Jonah Zeimens of the Cheyenne Frontier FFA.
The Wyoming Livestock Roundup would like to extend a great congratulations to all of Wyoming FFA’s representation at the National FFA Convention.
Kaitlyn Root is an editor for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
