By Graham Blagg and Zoe Toffaleti
Special to The Union

Throughout the year, members of the Nevada Union FFA look forward to many contests. They hope and dream all year, for a plaque, a first-place silver bowl, the pride they feel in being the best. At the end of the year, all hopes, dreams and longings are balanced precariously on one contest: a last-ditch effort at State Finals, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Eleven members of the Nevada Union FFA Chapter recently traveled to San Luis Obispo to compete in the State FFA Judging Finals. These were the last contests of the year and the qualifying competitions for the National FFA Contests, which will be held in October in Indianapolis, Ind. The top team in each of the different career development events will move on to compete at the national level. Last weekend, hundreds of students from throughout the golden state made their way to Cal Poly to compete for a chance at glory, fame, and some very showy ribbons.

Four of the Nevada Union FFA members who traveled to compete in the contests were Graham Blagg, Rayna Charnley, Ben Granholm and Elizabeth Steele. These four students make up Nevada Union's Livestock Judging team. The contest is based on judging three species of livestock - sheep, beef and swine - and then giving three sets of reasons to the judging officials, eloquently and with professionalism. In other words, they must verbally back up their written placing. After a long day of competition, the Nevada Union Livestock Judging team placed fourth. There were 39 teams that competed in the state livestock judging contest and over 130 individuals.

In addition, the Forestry team competed in the state contest. The members on the team are J. Michael McKenzie, Kelsey Heath, Ashley Carson and Alex Schimke. This career development event requires participants to take a written test to gauge their basic knowledge of forestry, identify dozens of plant varieties and calculate land area. The Nevada Union team placed third.

The Marketing Plan team also found success at Cal Poly, as Zoë Toffaleti, Jessica Milhous and Katie Bielen placed fourth. This contest is based on a 15-minute presentation of a concept to improve an existing business. At the end of the presentation, the panel of judges has five minutes of open questioning to ask the competitors about their marketing plan. The contestants are expected to display their knowledge and grasp of the idea and the basics of business.

All in all, the trip was considered a great success. The key element of all these contests is to build life skills and allow these students to gain knowledge of the agriculture industry they have chosen to represent. The ribbons may have not all been blue, but the five hours of driving both ways didn't seem like wasted time when Nevada Union's name was called in each and every contest.

With the bustling of the many schools, the geniality of the members and coaches, and the overall success of Nevada Union students in their contests, the trip was one of the better ones attended this year.



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