Marble Falls FFA lands district sweepstakes honors
“If kids see something that is successful year after year, that’s something they want to be a part of,” he said.
On Monday at the San Saba District Leadership Contest at Burnet High School, the MFHS agriculture program added to its winning tradition by earning the sweepstakes trophy for the fifth time in the past six years.
Chesnut said the sweepstakes trophy goes to the school with the most points during the leadership competition.
“Our kids did a tremendous job,” he said.
In the FFA leadership contest, students compete at either the junior or senior levels. The junior level is for first-year agriculture students, while the senior division is for students in their second, third or fourth year. The competition includes skills, quiz, job interview, chapter conducting, creed, radio and public relations contests.
The Marble Falls FFA had teams in all 12 of the competitions. Five of those teams earned a spot in the area contests in Blanco. At area the Marble Falls students will face teams from about 100 schools. Each contest will have 12 teams vying for the top two spots and the chance to advance on to the state competition in December.
The Junior Quiz team earned first place in district for the sixth year in a row while the Junior Skills team earned the district championship for the third straight year.
The Senior Chapter Conducting team also finished first. The Senior Quiz and Senior Skills teams finished second, but still advance to the area meet.
The competition tests the students’ agriculture knowledge and skills as well as knowledge of FFA rules and traditions.
Under the skills contest, Chesnut said the team must complete an agricultural-related job. The MFHS team finished a plumbing-repair task.
“After going to the competitions for several years, I learned you had to do something that was pretty self-contained,” he said. “You never know if there will be electricity or anything else available.”
The skills and agricultural issues tests are the only two that differ for each school.
“The rest are pretty much the same for each school,” Chesnut said.
Chesnut said he is still amazed that students want to participate in the quiz, which requires pupils to answer a series of questions about agriculture and related issues.
“If you think about it, the kids are basically wanting to go to another school, study and then take a test,” Chesnut said.
While the ribbons and trophies are nice to bring back to the campus, Chesnut said the biggest benefits are the study techniques that students learn.
“At the beginning of the year we sit down and work out our goals and we work on our study habits,” he said. “Those study habits and learning to set goals — those are the really important things the kids can take with them whether it’s in FFA or another class.”
daniel@thepicayune.com