FFA team places sixth at national convention

The Medical Lake High School FFA Team (formerly the Future Farmers of America) came in sixth place out of 45 states at the 81st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 22 and 23.

The group, Brett Moriarty, Kayla Tisdall, Anna Snyder, Ashley Holznagel and alternate Ben Brown competed in the National FFA Career Development Event that tested students’ abilities to evaluate livestock. The components of this event included seven evaluation classes of beef, sheep and swine, and the competitors had to complete an oral exam, a written exam and quality grading of slaughter cattle.

Randy Williams, the FFA adviser and agricultural education teacher at the school, said the students spent a lot of time preparing for the event to make sure they could defend why they classed livestock in a particular order.

The students discussed the breeding of the animals, looking at the genetic potential. They also discussed the marketability of the livestock, looking at the characteristics of the muscles.

Before attending the event in Indiana, the students competed in local and state events. They also raised funds for the trip through various fundraisers such as the Christmas tree sale, selling geraniums in the spring and selling calendars, candles and Christmas wrap.

“It’s kind of an expensive trip,” Williams said.

The four team members received gold awards after finishing in the top 20 individuals out of 240 contestants. Moriarty also won a $500 scholarship for coming in 12th place in the competition.

“I think there was a cutoff line of 14 or 15 (students) to get the scholarship,” Williams said.

Williams said the skills the students learn at these competitions are valuable no matter what they choose to do in life. They learn how to think on their feet, pay attention to detail and learn evaluation tools.

“It’s just been a great background (to have) for just that reason,” Williams said.

The students are not allowed to compete in the livestock competition a second time, but they can continue in different categories through the college level.