Montana FFA Members recently returned from participation at the National FFA Convention and Expo held in Indianapolis, IN. Approximately six hundred and fifty Montana students attended the convention where they engaged in competitions, leadership workshops, tours and educational seminars. This annual event attracted just over 60,000 members from across the nation.
Individual members that rose to the top in their respective competitions were:
Miles City’s Nolan Muggli who placed 2nd in the National Mechanics competition
Missoula’s Shaun Billingsley who placed 5th in the National Meats Evaluation competition
Grass Range’s Morgan Corean who placed 9th in the National Vet Science event
Lexy Dietz from Shepherd competed as one of four national finalists in the Goat Production Proficiency Award area.
Congratulations to the
Miles City Mechanics team for placing 4th in the National FFA Mechanics Competition
Big Timber Chapter for placing 5th in the National FFA Farm Business Management contest
Grass Range Chapter for placing 7th in the National Vet Science event
Wyatt Iverson and Rudy Kummer from Bainville placed 4th in Power Systems in the National Agri-Science Fair.
The following are the results of how the other Montana chapters placed during this year’s national convention:
Floriculture – Joliet – Silver
Marketing plan – Cascade – Bronze
Conduct of meetings – Shepherd – Silver
Parliamentary Procedure – Kalispell – Gold
Environmental and Natural Resource Management – Deer Lodge – Bronze
Creed – Rylee Glimm (Kalispell) – Silver
Extemporaneous Speaking – Miles Graveley (Deer Lodge) – Silver
Employment Skills – Lainey Kitzman (Billings) – Bronze
Prepared Speaking – Matthew Slivka (Winifred) – Bronze
Forestry – Mission Valley – Silver
Agronomy – Shields Valley – Silver
Ag Issues – Corvallis – Silver
Farm Business Management – Big Timber – Gold
Food Science – Belgrade – Silver
Ag Sales – Kalispell – Silver
Vet Science – Grass Range – Gold
Meats – Missoula – Gold
Ag Communication – Cascade – Bronze
Horse – Missoula – Silver
Ag Mechanics – Miles City – Gold
Livestock – Miles City – Gold.
*Note – Gold, Silver and Bronze ratings represent roughly the top, the middle, and the lower third of teams participating.
In addition to the contest placings, 17 members received the American FFA Degree. They are as follows:
Harleigh Johnson – Beaverhead
Alyssa Thormahlen – Belfry
Nicole Green – Big Horn
Callie Williams – Broadus
Taylor Noyes – Broadwater
Hannah LaBree – and Heather LaBree from Carter County
Alyssa Nicole Gruszie – Chinook
Jacob Crowder and Tyler Wilbanks from Culbertson
Dacey Robertson – Fromberg
Luke Heupel, and Bethany Lyford from Kalispell
Max Andres – Missoula.
This degree is the highest degree that can be bestowed upon a member and represents at least five years of dedicated participation in the FFA organization. Additionally, chapters across Montana were recognized for their activities held throughout the year. Bainville, Shields Valley and Columbus earned a 1 star award, Fromberg, Joliet, Kalispell and Park City earned a 2 star award and Beaverhead, Shepherd and Simms were identified as three star winners which is the highest ranking a chapter can receive.
Finally, Emily Cole from Roundup participated in the National Talent Program and Haylee Adams from Laurel participated in the National FFA Band. Also, Montana Agriculture Education was awarded a 100% membership award and the Montana FFA Association received an award for membership growth.
