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DANIEL CLIFTON • EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — Until last spring, the Marble Falls High School FFA nursery and landscape team had come “that close” to winning a state title and advancing to the national competition.

To illustrate, retired agriculture teacher Mike Chesnut held up his right hand and showed a gap between his forefinger and thumb, about an inch and a half.

“Two years ago, we came within that much of winning state,” he said. He closed the gap a bit between the two fingers to about a centimeter. “Then next year, we came that close.”

Then in April, the team won the Texas FFA Nursery Landscape Team Competition at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Avery Marshall was first individually with teammates Elizabeth “Liz” Lane finishing fourth and Holly Atkinson coming in 10th — her highest finish of the year.

“It was great to win it,” Marshall said. “The year before, we missed it by 14 points out of more than 2,000 possible points.”

The victory propels the team to the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis on Oct. 19-22. Chesnut, who retired the year before the team’s state win, handed over the program to Grant Cole.

Cole pointed out that the team’s success at the state level really started under Chesnut’s watch with the help of several other teachers and the girls themselves.

Two of the team members, Marshall and Atkinson, are still students at Marble Falls, but Lane graduated in May and is a freshman in college. Atkinson and Marshall have been preparing for the national convention competition, where they’ll face the top teams from the 49 other states.

“Yeah, I can feel some of the pressure,” Marshall admitted about the upcoming competition.

She and Atkinson have been practicing after class. Other teachers and staff, including Micael Rempe, Dawn Stratton, Shawn Reed, and Leonard Venghaus, as well as Chesnut, have helped get the students prepared for the competition.

Atkinson said that while they’ve faced tough competition in other meets, the national one is at a whole different level. Though there’s only 50 teams — they’ve competed against more than 100 at some meets — the tests are much more challenging.

Now, that’s not to say the other meets, including the state competition, weren’t tough. At state, they had practicum, a written test, and a plant identification exam. The plant test included a large number of plant species, but the most challenging part was how they were presented.

“They may just give you a stick or a dead leaf,” Marshall said. “You really have to know your plants.”

The national competition includes up to nine different segments spread out over a number of days.

While Atkinson and Marshall are preparing for the competition at the high school, Lane is trying to squeeze in her preparations between college classes and studying.

Whatever they face in Indianapolis, Atkinson and Marshall believe being involved in FFA has already made a major impact on their lives and is something that will benefit them in the future, whether they choose an agriculture career path or not. In fact, Marshall plans to major in political science followed up by law school.

But all the hard work and effort she’s put into FFA since grade school has made an impact on her.

“Social skills, confidence booster, responsibility, self motivation — all of those,” Marshall said. “It’s definitely showed my character.”

Atkinson agreed.

“I think it’s been a great thing to be part of,” she said. “All the things you learn, all the friendships you make, those are part of being in FFA. It really has made a difference to me.”

As they edge closer to the National FFA Convention, the work gets a little more intense, but they also see it as another chance to grow themselves.

“Whatever happens, I think it’s going to be a great experience,” Marshall said.

Cole will make the trip with the team as the sponsor. As for Chesnut, who missed the trip by “that much” the past few years, he isn’t writing off a trip to Indy.

“I might just make it a vacation,” he said with a grin.

Go to ffa.org for more information on FFA and the national convention.

daniel@thepicayune.com