FFA members bring home awards

Thermopolis FFA was named the reserve champion in the Agriculture Issues Forum at the 91st annual State Convention in Cheyenne April 18-21.

Team members include Mary Ryan, Jeffery VanAntwerp, Josi Thurgood, Lauren Reed, Tyne Vilapando, Kaitlyn Schmuck and Hannah Hurley. In a fun pre-session game, VanAntwerp was crowned Mr. FFA.

Regarding the chapter's title in the Agriculture Issues Forum, VanAntwerp said the team worked hard to prepare for the event, going over the script and their talking points day in and day out. Among those points were how families would be affected by the Harvest Box, how it could be integrated with current systems and how it would be dispersed to families.

VanAntwerp said the team also had some good props and costumes, which not all the teams had, and everyone knew their parts well.

Overall, VanAntwerp said, the convention was a lot of fun and opened his eyes to the competition for next year. As for being named Mr. FFA, VanAntwerp said with a laugh that it was a great honor and he has his friends and family to thank for their support. Though given no official duties, he said he is responsible for the plastic tiara.

Also at the convention, Josi Thurgood won the Gold Diversified Agriculture Production award and Jessie Pennoyer won the Gold Beef Production Placement Profiency award.

The Agricultural Proficiency Awards honor FFA members who, through their SAEs (Supervised Agriculture Experiences), have developed specialized skills that they can apply toward their future careers. Students can compete for awards in 47 areas covering everything from Agricultural Communications to Wildlife Management. Each award area also has two categories, placement and entrepreneurship.

Also during convention, the middle school Poultry team of McCoy Longwell, Jase Longwell, Anthony Sword and Roedy Farrell was named Reserve Champion Team.

The junior high Livestock team of Hadley Johnson, Will Clark, Autumn Brawley and Morgan Slover placed third, with Johnson placing eighth overall and Clark placing 10th overall. The high school Livestock team of Strite Daniels, Barb Kissel, Audrey Axtell and Rebekah Johnson placed 17th, with Kissel taking first in Female Selection and Daniels taking 11th in Reasons.

FFA Advisor Britton Van Heule explained Reasons are basically a two-minute speech about how a student placed a class of livestock and why.

Each student gives four sets of reasons, assigned by the contest. Female Selection is a regular class that has data with it to aid in placing. It comes with a scenario and students have to make the best choices.

The Environmental Natural Resources team of Riley Shaffer, Spencer Axtell, Logan Shumway and Remington Ferree placed 17th, and seventh in the team problem. The Meats team of Shaffer, Axtell and Ferree placed 18th.

The Greenhand Quizbowl team of Emme Norsworthy, Rebekah Johnson and Remington Ferree placed 18th and the Horse team of Norsworthy, Kiara Warman and Schmuck placed 30th though Van Heule noted they did not have a full team in either event.

Daniels, Vialpando and Schmuck also got their state FFA Degrees.

Van Heule stated, "I am very proud of our students. They were very competitive this year at a state convention that hosts 52 schools with 1,600 students from all over the state."

Outside convention competitions, students judged Hereford Bulls at Jeff Wards, went to a dairy in Carpenter, did a trolley tour of the Cheyenne downtown and toured a John Deere dealership.