By KEVIN NICOLAS & ELISE DALLEY
The Progress
The 95th Nevada Future Farmers of America State Convention was held in Reno last week on March 25-28. The event brought chapters from all across the state to complete in career and leadership development events which ranged from floral arranging, veterinary science, agricultural machines, marketing, and public speaking.
Chapters from both Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley attended the convention and fared well in many of the competitive fields.
Each day was filled with many competitions for the Moapa Valley students who had spent ample time in preparation.
The Conduct of Meeting team from Moapa Valley did exceptionally well in placement. Consisting of seven freshmen who worked hard to learn the rules of parliamentary procedure, the group placed 2nd overall in the State.
“It was so much fun!” said Macy Terril, a member of the MV Conduct of Meeting team. “I had a great time. I loved my team and I was so glad I got to go.”
The members of the Moapa Valley Floral team also performed well in both the individual and team categories.
MVHS freshman Rylan Sproul placed second overall for Creed Speaking. Sproul also received a gold in state star farmer.
MVHS senior Bodie Burton received a silver in his proficiency procedure and a gold in state star farmer.
Six kids in the Moapa Valley Chapter received their state degrees. These included Bodie Burton, Layla Moncrief, Lauren Williams, Dianne Leavitt, Allie Nelson and Nadia Shakespear. This was a big accomplishment as it takes hours of work on the FFA Agricultural Experience Tracker website, an online record book system for tracking high school agricultural education courses.
“Another great FFA state convention in the books for Moapa Valley!” said FFA Advisor Lacey Tom.
“Our chapter competed well. We were able to participate in a variety of workshops, and sparked a ton of connections. I’m proud of all my members and can’t wait to see them grow even more between now and the next state convention!”
FFA Chapter president Allie Nelson stated, “FFA State this year was awesome! From participation in workshops involving looking at the cow’s digestive system to judging milk and cheese I learned so much! We couldn’t have done it without our amazing advisors!”
The Virgin Valley chapter also had several standouts at the convention.
VVHS student Rex Rasmussen placed second overall in prepared public speaking. In this event students are given time prior to preparing a speech of interest related to agriculture.
Rasmussen also placed third overall in extemporaneous public speaking where students choose from various agricultural-related topics to present on and then are given thirty minutes to prepare a speech to deliver to a panel of judges.
The Virgin Valley marketing team; consisting of Rasmussen, Ari Easton, and Nataly Martinez; placed second overall for their presentation on Mesquite’s brand-new Jersey Mike’s location.
The chapter’s environmental and natural resources team of Alya Andrade, Brooke Zarate, Kevin Nicolas and Mckenna Whipple came third overall. In this contest, students analyze water quality, study waste management, and test their knowledge regarding GPS.
Zarate also placed third overall in the individual competition of the event.
The chapter’s floral team came fourth. The team included Addison Tedford, Eve Mercado, Brelle Wakefield, and Cydney Rowley who had their skills tested in floral identification, floral arrangements, and cake flowers.
Rowley placed fourth overall in the individual contest.
“I did a lot better than I expected to,” said floral team member, Eve Mercado. “I spent many class periods studying but I didn’t let that stop me from having fun at state. I’m hoping that next year we can do better and place in the top three as we came very close this year!”
Finally, taking second place was the chapter’s Best Informed Greenhand team of Kyra Jensen, Brooke Zarate and Alya Andrade. This event has first-year students tested on their knowledge of the history, purpose, and structure of FFA.
