After the hard work and effort of our school’s FFA club, they placed 28 out of 76 teams at their Livestock Judging competition at the NC State Fairgrounds.

They also placed 2^nd out of 83 in the state-wide poultry evaluation competition March 16.

There are three different levels of competition. Participating and being an active member of the club is beneficial to move to higher levels.

“With hard work and dedication to do better is how you can move up in levels,” junior Stephanie King said.

So far FFA has competed in five competitions. In addition to the Livestock team, the Veterinarian Science team also competed.

Freshmen Abbie Loeffler and Alyssa Bossert, sophomore Justin Mack, along with juniors King and Claire Stewart attended for the Livestock team.

“My experience at competitions was so fun. I met so many new people,” Loffler said.

Their task of the first competition was to place in different classes livestock based on characteristics that would make the animal most desirable on the farm. They had to understand what traits a farmer would look for in a variety of different animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs.

“Overall I’m happy with how we placed, and it makes me want to try harder,” King said.

The students who competed at the poultry competition were juniors Claire Stewart and Stephanie King, sophomore Lindsay Madden and freshman Katelyn Shattuck.

“We did really well. It is a hard competition to break the top three because there are schools from areas that are predominant in poultry. We did the best our school has ever done for this particular event,” Stewart said.

The members of the group most enjoy the opportunity to put into practice information they have learned in the club, which has about 180 members, and apply it to what they are doing in class.

“I know a lot more and I have advanced leadership,” Loeffler said.

FFA adviser Michael Johnson enjoys working with the students.

Johnson said, “This allows me to watch students grow from year to year.  It allows me to see the students succeed in something and grow their confidence.”