Waukon FFA competes at State Convention

submitted by Carmen Wille, Chapter Reporter

A total of 22 members from the Little Switzerland Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter at Waukon High School got the opportunity to attend the 87th Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference in Ames prior to the end of the school year. The entire group got the opportunity to tour the Syngenta Plant in Slater and 13 members competed in a Career Development Event (CDE) at the State Leadership Conference.
Employees of the Syngenta plant offered a look into their daily routines of certain jobs and what it takes to be successful in the hybrid crop industry. Students learned some of the duties of a bean breeder, assembly line personnel, and even an entomologist.
Junior Megan Leiran and sophomore Emma Johnson represented the Waukon FFA Chapter in the Delegate Session, which votes on the new state officers. Chapter representatives listened to speeches presented by officer candidates, then voted on who they think will be the best fit for various state officer positions.
Freshman Dani Stock participated in the Greenhand Quiz, which is used to test first-year members on general knowledge of the National FFA organization. Questions pertaining to this quiz would ask the participant, for example, who the current National FFA President is or maybe what state was the last to be charted. All preparation for the quiz is independent, and Stock placed 10th in the state of Iowa and received a gold rating.
The Farm Business Management team received a silver rating. This team consisted of senior Mary Melcher and juniors Duel Stock, Michael Schulte and Nolan Hagen. The Farm Business Management CDE is used to analyze farm, ranch and agriculture business information. Participants in this contest also apply economic concepts of farm management to make important decisions. This contest also involves a lot of teamwork, which is applied throughout the whole event.
Freshmen MacKenzie Johanningmeier, Emy Dehli, Cassey Urell and Sarah Ryan took part in the new Biotechnology contest. The Biotechnology Career Development Event is used to encourage FFA members to explore the diversity of the Biotechnology industry. Students have to use teamwork and a lot of their knowledge about the industry to compete in the event. The team received a silver rating.
Sophomores Christa Heffern, Elizabeth Blake, Whitney Cota and Cassandra Miller made up the Poultry Evaluation team. Poultry Evaluation is a new contest that is used to spark interest in poultry production, management, processing, marketing, etc. Partakers must use terminology to make logical decisions, to promote USDA product quality, identify customer preferences in poultry products, and so much more. The Poultry team received a silver rating.