Local FFA teams compete

District, area, and state wide FFA contests took place last week and local ag students competed at some of the events.

The Big Country FFA District speaking events and officer elections were held in Cisco on Monday, April 22 and several members of the local FFA chapter attended as voting delegates, officer candidates, degree applicants, and/or speaking event contestants. In addition, the Albany chapter applied for the Golden Horizon Award and the National Chapter Award.

Alayna Koemel was elected to serve as the Big Country District vice president.

Seth Hale was selected as the district’s nominee to run for president of Area IV. He will be on the ballot at the area convention in Clyde on Monday, May 13. 

Hale won the Star in Agri-Business award at the district level and advanced to the area competition. 

Hale’s application for the Lone Star FFA Degree was approved to advance to the area degree check.

Representing Albany as voting delegates were Blanton Belcher and William Webb.

Top placing FFA members at the area level will advance to the State FFA convention to be held in Fort Worth on July 15-19.

CDE State Contests

Albany FFA sent a team to compete in the Environmental and Natural Resources state CDE contest at Tarleton on Thursday, April 25. 

The following Saturday, April 27, the Cotton team and the Plant ID team traveled to Texas Tech for their state-wide CDE contests.

The local teams did not place among the top winners in the state, but the ENR team placed fourth in area and first in district, the Plant ID team took second in both area and district, and the Cotton team was fourth in district. 

Several team members also claimed individual honors in Area IV and/or the Big Country District.

Big Country Speaking Events and Officers

Officer Candidates

Area IV Officer Candidate - 1. Seth Hale, advances to area.

Big Country District Vice President - 1. Alayna Koemel.

Senior Prepared 

Public Speaking 

Ag Tech and Communications - 1. Seth Hale, advances to area.

Animal Science - 2. William Webb, advances to area.

Natural Resources - 2. Alayna Koemel, advances to area.

Star Awards

Star in Agribusiness - 1. Seth Hale, advances to area.

Lone Star Degree - Seth Hale advances to area degree check.

Tarleton State CDE

ENR

Big Country District - 1. Bryan Jones, 2. Tyler Beard, 3. Brady Karl, 4. Kasey Cauble.

(Team was first in district and fourth in Area IV.)

Texas Tech State CDE

Cotton

Big Country District - 10. Tyler Beard, 11. Jackson Chapman. (Team, which also included Ryder Wilkins and Brady Karl, was fourth in district and 11th in Area IV.)

Plant ID

Area IV - 5. Bryan Jones, 6. Cade Neve, 7. Blanton Belcher, 8. Blaine Kayga. 

Big Country District - 5. Bryan Jones, 6. Cade Neve, 7. Blanton Belcher, 8. Blaine Kayga. (Team was second in both district and area.)