Monticello FFA Competes at National Level

During the week of May 2-6 2016, Marissa Peterson, Brittany Disch, Madalyn Holtz and Erin Lehr travelled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to compete in the National Land and Range Judging Competition. These four Monticello FFA members earned the right to compete in this contest by earning 4th place in the State FFA Soils Judging Contest last August.
While in Oklahoma, the team spent much of their time practicing soils and land evaluation in order to learn the national scorecard and rules, and to also get a feel for what they might see on the day of the contest, Thursday, May 5, 2016. Once competition was finished, the students learned of their results at an awards banquet with other qualifying FFA members from all around the United States. Although our team ranked 55th out of 92 teams, we were pleased to find that Brittany Disch did quite well. Brittany, who was the high individual at the state event last summer, judged all of her textures correctly and only missed one slope of the four fields judged. Had she scored that slope correctly, her overall score would have tied her for a top score among all individuals at the national event!
Their time in Oklahoma was very enjoyable, with beautiful weather, which allowed them the opportunity to tour the area. They toured the campus of Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma National Memorial and Museum, watched a minor league baseball game, and played disc golf. Congratulations to these four FFA members for their accomplishments and positive representation of the Monticello FFA Chapter. Special thanks goes out to the Monticello FFA Alumni for helping fund this trip.
Lastly, as the school year comes to a close, Monticello FFA is preparing for a variety of summer activities. One of these activities includes attending the State FFA Convention in Madison in mid-June. Our chapter is pleased to announce that several students will be getting recognized. Bryss Shover, Marissa Peterson, Madalyn Holtz, Megan Lehr, Brittany Disch, Brienne Graber, Trent Siegenthaler, Karlene Walters and Kolton Shulka will be receiving their State FFA Degrees. Marissa Peterson will also be recognized as the chapter's 3-star leader and for earning the Wisconsin FFA Washington Leadership Conference Scholarship. Megan Lehr will be competing at the state level in Prepared Public Speaking and Brittany Disch will also be recognized for her top individual placing in soils judging. Most recently, our chapter learned of earning Gold with the National Chapter Award Application which evaluates our chapter, as a whole, with its annual activities and meeting specific standards set forth by the National FFA. This recognition allows our chapter to compete at the national level. Monticello FFA will be getting recognized for this accomplishment at the State FFA Convention and representatives from the chapter will also be earning recognition for placing in the top ten, statewide, in the student development and community development division. Congratulations to all Monticello FFA members for being a part of this prestigious honor.