Mission Valley locals bring home wins from national expo
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News from Montana FAA
MONTANA — Montana FFA Members recently returned from participation at the National FFA Convention and Expo held in Indianapolis, IN. Approximately 600 Montana students attended the convention where they engaged in competitions, leadership workshops, tours and educational seminars. This annual event attracted nearly 61,000 members from across the nation.
The Mission Valley chapter took bronze place in Forestry, and Jaylea Lunceford of the Mission Valley chapter was awarded the American FFA Degree. The American FFA Degree is the highest degree that can be bestowed upon a member and represents at least five years of dedicated participation in the FFA organization.
In the national Food Science and Technology Competition, the number one team in the nation comes from the Missoula FFA Chapter. Missoula bested 37 other state winning chapters to earn the title. Team members were Claire Standley, Joel Standley, Quinlan Turner and Shaun Billingsley. This is the first national team winner from Montana since 2010. Other Montana teams placing in the top ten were the Kalispell FFA Chapter’s Farm Business Management who placed fifth, Gardiner FFA placed seventh in Agricultural Sales, Corvallis placed nineth in the National Environmental and Natural Resources contest and the Big Timber Meats Evaluation team also placed nineth.
Individual members that rose to the top in their respective competitions were led by Kalispell’s Ethan Bay who placed second in the National Farm Business Management competition, Missoula’s Claire Standley who placed third in the National Food Science competition and Gardiner’s Summit Browning who placed third in the National Agriculture Sales event. Perhaps the individual highlight of the convention was when Carson Crary from the Choteau FFA Chapter was named as the national winner in the Outdoor Recreation Proficiency Award area. Proficiency awards recognize students who excel in their work-based learning experiences. Additionally, Kara Conley and Faith Berow from Missoula placed 5th in the Animal Systems section of the National Agriscience program.
The following are the results of how the other Montana chapters placed during this year’s national convention: Floriculture – Miles City – Silver, Marketing plan – Park City – Silver, Conduct of meetings – Joliet – Silver, Parliamentary Procedure – Broadwater – Bronze, Creed – Brylinn Olstad – Shepherd - Bronze, Extemporaneous Speaking – Claire Murnin – Shepherd - Bronze, Employment Skills – Katelyn Anderson – Shepherd - Silver, Prepared Speaking – Brighton Lane (Huntley Project) – Silver, Agronomy – Joliet - Gold, Ag Issues – Corvallis – Bronze, Vet Science – Beaverhead - Bronze, Ag Communication – Corvallis - Silver, Horse – Kalispell – Silver, Ag Mechanics – Big Timber – Silver, Livestock – Big Timber – Silver, and Poultry – Miles City – Bronze.
In addition to the contest placings, 29 members received the American FFA Degree. They are as follows: Grace Aisenbrey and Sidney Althoff – Clarksfork, Kadyn Braaten – Broadwater, Jacob Brown and Matthew Slivka – Winifred, Lexy Dietz – Shepherd, Cole Dykhuizen – Kalispell, Justin Forseth – Fairfield, Coleman Gilman, Desaray Tipton and Zoe Lee – Ruby Valley, Jordan Grewell – Joliet, Kaden Hanson – Bainville, Danielle Horan – Moore, Kayla Johnson and Reace Lannen – Shields Valley, Kadin Kammerer – Missoula, Riley Larson – Conrad, Joe Lackman – Forsyth, Amelia Laubach and Riley Prather – Big TimberColleen Mosby – Roy, Landan Ohmdahl – Sweet Grass Hills, Brenna Osksa – Plentywood, Kiley Smieja – Belgrade, Rebecca Stroh – Chinook, Allyson Young – Fairview, and Colton Young – Stillwater Valley.
Four individuals received the Honorary American FFA Degree for their support given to Montana FFA over the years. They are: Tom Peterson from Shields Valley who serves on the National FFA Agronomy CDE Committee, Jay Meyer from Stevensville who is on the Montana Foundation’s Board of Directors, and Jack Larson from Miles City who is on the Montana Foundation’s Board of Directors and was a past Ag teacher.
Justin Heupel from Kalispell who is one of the Agriculture Education Instructors there.
Finally, Montana Agriculture Education was awarded a 100% membership award and the Montana FFA Association received an award for membership growth.
The next event for Montana’s FFA Members will be the Montana FFA Ag Expo, a regional activity set for Nov. 10th – 12th in Bozeman.
