FFA members head to state

Hot Springs County High School FFA members plan to attend the State FFA convention April 4-7 in Cheyenne and Laramie.

FFA advisor Britton Van Heule said there are 52 chapters in the Wyoming State FFA competing at the convention.

Van Huele said there will be six teams competing in different categories from the Thermopolis FFA. The categories are meats, livestock, horse, sales, poultry and environmental and natural resources.

“We’ve been practicing for quite awhile with the kids and this convention is fun for them,” Van Huele said. “They get to see how they rank against other kids, and it’s very prestigious for them to do well.”

Participating in the meats category will be juniors Logan Bartholomew, Ryan Bleak and Keegan Robbins. At the competition, they will be responsible for identifying 30 retail cuts of meat, yielding and quality grading six beef carcasses and placing six classes.

In the livestock competition, juniors Jessie Pennoyer, Taylor Nuttall, Dreama Thorpe and freshman Barbara Kissel will be judging beef, sheep, pigs and goats.

Juniors Dreama Thorpe, Taylor Nutall, sophomores Kaitlyn Schmuck and Tyne Vialpando will be participating in the horse category. They will be evaluating halter horses and performance classes.

The sales category participants will be selling a product from Wyoming Custom Meats, taking a test and doing a team activity. Students participating in this category will be senior Katelyn King, freshman Maggie Jones and sophomore Hunter Kessler.

Participating in the poultry category will be freshman Barbara Kissel, Maggie Jones, sophomores Kaitlyn Schmuck and Tyne Vialpando . Students will be identifying poultry parts, grading ready to eat products, grading eggs and placing live and carcass chickens.

Environmental and natural resource participants include juniors Kole Cox, Logan Bartholomew, Ryan Bleak and freshman Jeremy Gibbel. They will be solving soil and water problems as well as identifying animals, hides, skulls and plants.

State FFA degrees will also be given to seniors Teryn Jackman and Katelyn King. The degrees are based off of participation and dollars and hours culminated in a Supervised Agriculture Experience. The dollar amount is equal to $4,000, Van Heule said.

The Thermopolis FFA will also showcase a booth at the convention. This year’s booth is titled “Ag is the Answer,” Van Huele said.

“It is basically a booth for us to showcase Wyoming agriculture,” he said. “At the state convention, one booth will be chosen to attend the National FFA Convention in Louisville, Ky.”