Livestock team earns national honors
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News from Mission Valley FFA
RONAN — The Mission Valley FFA livestock team represented Montana proudly as they joined more than 700 other Montana FFA members at the 2015 National FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. More than 65,000 FFA members nationwide attended the event held Oct. 27-31, setting a new attendance record in the 88th year of the organization’s existence.
Because the local four-person team won the 2015 State Contest at the Montana State Convention, they earned the right to represent all of Montana for the national livestock team competition, coming home with gold in a 12th place finish.
“In the National livestock contest Montana rarely breaks into the top 20,” Mission Valley FFA Advisor Reese McAlpin said. “This was a highly motivated Mission Valley team who worked hard and were only four points away from their goal of being top-10.”
The team honed their skills and learned about agriculture and the livestock industry on the way to the National Convention by working with college livestock judging teams and touring feedlots and the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine.
“In order to do well at the national contest, Montana kids need to learn about how the livestock industry works outside of our state, a process many Montana teams overlook,” McAlpin said.
Members also had a chance to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame, George Jones Museum, Corvette Museum, and Churchill Downs on the way to the convention.
The four local competitors include Laurel Rigby, a 2015 Ronan graduate who is on a full-ride livestock judging scholarship at Casper College, where she is studying Agricultural Communications.
Micah McClure is also a 2015 Ronan graduate who is studying Agro-Ecology on a scholarship to Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming.
Courtnee Clairmont, a Ronan sophomore, is the youngest member of the team. Courtnee placed 15th in the State FFA Contest last spring as a freshman.
Josey Motichka is a junior at Polson High School. She especially enjoyed the Colorado State University Vet School tour as she plans on studying medicine when she graduates, according to McAlpin.
Both Josey and Courtnee have judging scholarship offers from Northwest and Casper College.
Josey is the first student to participate in the Ronan-Polson FFA Co-op. Through this program, students interested in agriculture and FFA from surrounding schools take an online agricultural education class and participate in FFA activities with Mission Valley FFA. The Ronan-Polson Co-op began during the 2015-16 school year and is continuing this year. A Ronan-Charlo co-op was made this year to give Charlo students the same opportunity.
Statewide, Montana FFA members competed in 20 different career development events at the National Convention and participated in a variety of leadership activities and educational opportunities.
Montana FFA Association was recognized as the first-place state in the nation in regards to percentage of membership gained in one year and received an award banner and recognition during one of the convention sessions for this honor. The state association also received a gold award for being a 100 percent membership state. This means that every student in Montana’s Agriculture Education classes are also FFA members.
Montana FFA’s State Officers will be visiting schools across Montana during December and January 2016. These leadership-based visits will mark the beginning of the 2016 FFA events that culminate at the State FFA Convention, March 30 - April 2, 2016 in Bozeman.
