Kimball, Banner County FFA students earn state berths

Though the majority of students at Kimball Junior/Senior High School were given a day off, the halls were still full last Wednesday.

Nearly 200 FFA students from 15 chapters filled the halls, auditorium and student center, as well as the nearby 4-H building and the Kimball County Fairgrounds, for the District 12 Career Development Competition.

In addition to students from Kimball and Banner County, other schools that competed include Alliance, Bayard, Bridgeport, Chadron, Cody-Kilgore, Creek Valley, Garden County, Gordon-Rushville, Hemingford, Minatare, Morrill, Scottsbluff and Sioux County. They each vied for state spots during the competition.

"I was really happy with how the contest went, especially for my first year," said Kimball FFA sponsor Sally Wheeler.

The contest included livestock judging, meat judging, agronomy, nursery/landscape and the newest contest - biotechnology.

Banner County's meat judging team, comprised of Kadan Huber, Christina Grubbs, Paige Cross, Garrett Grubbs and Ashlyn Hanan, took second place and earned a berth to state. Huber placed fourth individually and Christina Grubbs followed with a sixth place individual finish. They both earned blue ribbons. Teammates Paige Cross and Garrett Grubbs each earned a red ribbon.

Agronomy was the second strong area for Banner County. The agronomy team of MaKenna Dahlgrin, Rebecca Brown, Sara Taggart, Jules McDonnell and Megan Gifford placed third at district and earned a state berth.

Dahlgrin took second individually and won a purple ribbon. Brown won a red ribbon and Taggart won a white ribbon.

Though Banner County did not have enough members to form a livestock judging team, three individuals competed - Cole Blanke, Tallion McGowan and Savannah Jordan, who won a white ribbon in the event.

"I thought they did pretty well," Banner County FFA sponsor Bill Gifford said. "I thought some of them exceeded their expectations. I was pleased overall."

Kimball senior Tyler Shaw placed second individually in livestock judging, while teammate Monica Wasielewski, a junior, took first. The Kimball senior livestock judging team took first in the contest and earned a state berth.

Competitions in public speaking, natural resources speaking, job interview, welding and agricultural sales as well as others were held across the state prior to this competition.

Banner County will send livestock management and agriculture mechanics teams to state. The livestock management team qualified Jan. 7 in Scottsbluff, while the agriculture mechanics team qualified Feb. 4 in Gordon. These are in addition to the two teams that qualified in Kimball last week.

At least 20 volunteers, comprised mostly of alumni, came together to support the local FFA program as well as the visiting chapters.

"The alumni are great. This is just one thing they do for the kids," Wheeler said. "They do the progress show, the silent auction, the labor auction. It's amazing! They spend hundreds of hours a year for these kids."

Additional community support comes from local livestock producers who bring cattle, goats, and swine to the event as well as local merchants like the Main Street Market, who provides beef and pork for meat judging.

The local Agricultural Society also donates use of the fairgrounds and buildings at no charge so Kimball can continue hosting the event.

Wheeler plans to take 24 members from the Kimball chapter to the state convention, held in Lincoln April 8-10 this year, but the bigger picture is the leadership experience these students get.

"We help the kids take that next step into adulthood. They will be alumni in five years," Wheeler said. "Here's your leadership! It is awesome to watch them develop those skills, but their peers who aren't in FFA don't get that."