Grand Meadow FFA sees success at nationals
Published 8:00 am Saturday, November 3, 2018
- The Grand Meadow Milk Quality and Products team, placed fifth nationally in Oral Presentation, the largest single component in the national event. Members of the Grand Meadow team include from left : Grace Hilton, Sydney Bacon, Breanna Winfield , Hailey Jacobsen and Jenn York, Adult team leader. Photo submitted
Grand Meadow expressed its pride for the Grand Meadow FFA organization that secured its standing as one of the best in the United States.
Recently, the Grand Meadow High School FFA went to the National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis last week. The school’s FFA Parliamentary Procedure team ranked as a Gold Award team, which included sophomores Ben Kraft, Dekota Steinkamp, Treyton Ottman, Josiah Johnson, Taylor Glynn, Mason Geier and Nils Lee. The judges tally sheets also ranked the Grand Meadow team in the top three in the country for the category of “Power of Expression.”
Also recognized was the Milk Quality and Products team placing as the Silver Emblem Awards team during nations, members of which included: Breanna Winfield, Hailey Jacobsen, Sydney Bacon and Grace Hilton. The team placed fifth in the country on the 10 minute Oral Team Presentation. This competition represented the most competitive, and largest, youth Dairy Industries competition in the world with 41 states represented.
The Grand Meadow Conduct of Chapter Meetings team advanced to the semi finals and earned a gold rank in the national contest. Front row, from left: Jeff Johnson, Jason Ottman, Jason Steinkamp, Sara Lee, Dan Geier and Tammy Kraft. Back row: Roger Dvergsten, Cory Greenwood, Josiah Johnson, Treyton Ottman, Dekota Steinkamp, Nils Lee, Taylor Glynn, Mason Geier and Ben Kraft.
“We were up there for five days,” Steinkamp said. “We were definitely nervous and a little scared, but we were happy to be there. We spent a lot of time together and got to know each other really well. …it was a great experience.”
Future Farmers of America (FFA) is an intracurricular youth organization that prepares students for leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education, according to the National FFA website. Through hands-on experiences, members use the tools given by FFA to achieve real-world success.
The Grand Meadow FFA Milk Quality and Products team earned a Silver emblem overall award recognition and the October National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis. From left: Sydney Bacon, Breanna Winfield-Gold Individual, Roger Dvergsten-advisor (instructor), Grace Hilton and Hailey Jacobsen.
Despite the word “farmers” in the name, the organization’s reach spreads wider as it encompasses those interested in becoming future biologists, chemists, veterinarians, engineers and entrepreneurs also.
The Grand Meadow Milk Quality and Products team, placed fifth nationally in Oral Presentation, the largest single component in the national event. Members of the Grand Meadow team include from left : Grace Hilton, Sydney Bacon, Breanna Winfield , Hailey Jacobsen and Jenn York, Adult team leader. Photo submitted
The team’s overall success competing at Nationals—Grand Meadow’s FFA has been to the national competition about 11 times, according to Roger Dvergsten, advisor—didn’t come easily for the team. Students acknowledged that a lot of work needed to be done to get the national recognition after having placed sixth last year.
“When we first started, we weren’t the greatest,” Johnson said. “Our attitudes weren’t good. We came into this really relaxed and it was a fun thing for us. It’s been a long road coming.”
However, this year’s competition proved to be one of the best for Grand Meadow. Hours spent after school and working together to improve as a team didn’t fall by the wayside. From teachers to chaperones to fundraising, there was a full push community effort to support the FFA, all while balancing other extracurriculars like sports.
Roger Dvergsten-senior advisor, Josiah Johnson-treasurer, Taylor Glynn-Reporter, Mason Geier-Sentinel, Ben Kraft-President (Presiding Officer) , Dekota Steinkamp-Vice President, Treyton Ottman-Secretary, Nils Lee–student advisor.
“We had a lot of chaperones who wanted to go with us to see how we were doing,” Geier said. “Our school had us on the announcements and we were recognized by the entire school. They’ve done quite a bit for us. Our advisor gave us a lot of opportunities to give us the preparations needed.”
However, what drew the team together were the experiences of building lasting friendships that helped support the team into becoming a force for the FFA in Grand Meadow. For Ottman, he was actually persuaded to join the organization by his group of friends, and found it to be the place for him.
“I’m pretty glad that they persuaded me, because it was a lot of fun,” he said. “I definitely want to be a part of FFA all throughout my high school career.”
When describing the ideal teammates that should consider joining FFA, Ottman explained that individuals who love to try experiencing new things would fit right in.
“Somebody who would love to meet new people and be likeable,” he said. “It’s hard to find those people now a days, but you can still find them with the FFA. It’s a group of people who actually cares, and I found a ton of new friends. We found strong friendships and met a lot of new people at nationals. We are still in contact with people from other states.”
Kraft wanted to emphasize that Dvergsten’s leadership and guidance helped inspire the team to put their best foot forward as well as preparing them for the competition.
“Mr. D was amazing to us,” he said. “He gave us practice times, prepared us with questions and booklets and helped us understand complicated stuff. All thanks goes to Mr. D. He is everything to us.”
