FFA students compete in multiple events

The Odessa and Harrington FFA Chapters and Agriculture courses have been very busy attending and preparing for events. District 9 kicked off their Career Development Events (CDEs) Monday, February 3, in Wilson Creek where students competed in Sub-District Creed and Job Interview. Job Interview is where FFA members are scored on their resume and cover letter prior to the event; and at the event they are interviewed on their chosen agricultural career. Odessa participants were, Alexis Burdick sixth (moving on to District), Katelyn Worley seventh, Kim Nelson eighth and from Harrington Samantha Nighswonger ninth out of 13 FFA members.

There were 11 Creed speakers from six different schools. The top five continue on to compete at the District level in March: Natasha Jaques from Odessa placed third overall, followed by Hannah Sheldon sixth, and Amber Smith of Harrington 11th.

Later in March other CDEs will be taking place: Marketing (MaKayla Baird, Caleb Singer, and Max Greenwalt), Job Interview (Alternate: Alexis Burdick), and Dairy Quality (Greenwalt, Baird, Singer and Colby Sooey) on March 10 in Ritzville, Food Science (Isabelle Phillips, Caitlin Kennedy, Debra Armstrong and Samantha Nighswonger of Harrington) and first-year members (Odessa's Hannah Sheldon, Danielle Tebow, Colton Hunt, Kiegan Wehr and Patrick Valverde and Harrington's Amber Smith, Alex Bruce, David Kennedy, Evie Mann and Colton Jacobson) on March 14. Competitions in Creed (Natasha Jaques), Public Speaking (Kim Nelson, Molly Schafer and Caleb Singer of Odessa), Extemporaneous Speaking (Max Greenwalt) will be held March 21 in Moses Lake on the Big Bend Community College campus.

Horticulture

Ag teacher and FFA advisor Erica Whitmore has been busy getting the greenhouses up and running with the Harrington second-hour and the Odessa sixth-hour horticulture classes. Petunias, geraniums, dracaena spikes, portulaca, marigolds, hanging baskets and vegetables will be available for purchase this spring.

Trapshooting

• On January 18, the Odessa and Harrington trapshooting team traveled to Colton to participate in the Pullman FFA shoot; the team of Griffey Powell, Max Greenwalt, Caleb Singer, William Mann and Kiegan Wehr scored a 161, placing them fifth out of 21 teams. Greenwalt and Mann tied for seventh place out of 97 shooters.

• On February 15, FFA members attended the St. John Shoot, where William Mann took High Honors hitting 48 out of 50 and placing first.

• The next trapshoot will be March 1 at the Malden-Pine-City Gun Club, sponsored by the Rosalia FFA Chapter.

National FFA Week

To kick off National FFA Week, a group of 25 volunteers (students, parents, and community members) came out to support the Odessa Agriculture Program by cleaning up the ag building inside and out Saturday, February 8. The purpose was to create working relationships and incorporate the community into the program of activities. It was a successful day of mentoring and organizing the Odessa agriculture facility.

February 15 - 22 was National FFA Week where the Odessa and Harrington chapters celebrated with different activities promoting FFA, agriculture and leadership. Students participated in an FFA trivia game, a crop-guessing game, dress-up days, and a "Do you know your officer?" game.

The FFA officers provided treats to the school staff and administration as a thank you for all they do. The officer teams also submitted forms, kept members informed of all events coming up and provided a great service to their respective chapters.

Ag Expo

Whitmore and several adult chaperones took a large group from the Odessa and Harrington agriculture classes and FFA chapters to the Spokane Ag Expo on February 6. The students listened to two speakers from the University of Idaho discussing the importance of having a good credit score and how to manage it. Washington state FFA officers presented a BRAND game in which the students participated. The group of FFA and ag students also supported the Odessa FBLA chapter with their Agriculture Careers project and attended the exhibit hall with all of the vendor booths.