Kimball FFA students compete at state

Kimball High School students went to the FFA State Competition just this past weekend. They received the usual school send off, the tunnel walk. They walked through two lanes of their peers and were given high-fives of encouragement and well wishes before they left.

They competed in several areas. Dakota Randles, Arica McCloud, Kailey Dickerson, Maddie Snyder, Kayla Shoenemann, Ben Tussing, and Joel Evertson competed in junior parliamentary procedure and placed tenth. Jake Reader, Timmy Culek, Kayla Lukassen, Michael Ferguson, Jodell Schulte, and Monica Wasielewski competed in senior parliamentary procedure and placed twelfth. Dalton Pruett, Kailey Dickerson, Monica Wasielewski, and Maddie Snyder competed in the junior livestock evaluation and placed thirty-sixth out of seventy-eight. Kayla Lukassen, Tyler Shaw, Timmy Cule and Colt Lewis competed in the senior livestock evaluation and placed twenty-first out of seventy-three. Kayla Lukassen, Arica McCloud, Jodell Schulte, and Kayla Schoenemann competed in floral design and placed twenty-fourth out of forty. Jake Reader, Jodell Schulte, Dakota Randles, and Ben Tussing competed in meat evaluation and placed twenty-eighth out of ninety. Dalton Pruett, Michael Ferguson, Timmy Culek, and Joel Evertson competed in ag mechanics and technology and placed twenty-first out of forty. In natural resources Kimball placed fifteenth out of seventy-five.

Held worked with the students to prepare them for the competition. They had practices and would learn the things they needed to do through examples shown to them from internet references. Although in some cases the students visited farms and got to put their knowledge to test in person with actual livestock.

The students didn't only compete, they also attended several educational talks concerning agriculture and farming. Alan Held, head of the high school agriculture department, accompanied the students and expressed why these skills learned through the FFA are important.

"These skills that the kids are learning are not just important for farming and agriculture, it's teaching them decision making based on given criteria, as well as public speaking. When they judge the livestock they also have to give the reasons behind their decisions," Held said.

The FFA teaches students skills that will benefit them in any career field that they choose to enter. Held also expressed the highlight of the weekend.

"The highlight of the weekend was probably the two seniors, Kayla Lukassen and Timmy Culek receiving their State FFA Degrees, which is the highest award you can get in the FFA," Held said.