On February 21st, thirty-one Holdrege Agricultural Education students competed in the District 6 FFA Career Development Events. The Holdrege FFA Chapter was well represented and qualified additional teams for the State CDE Competitions.
The Agronomy team of Cooper Lindstrom, Jaren Moore, Sunder Schemper, and Quincy Bell competed in the contest centered on insect and weed identification, corn, and soybean production. The team received a white ribbon and qualified for state competition. Individually, Cooper earned a red and Jaren, Sunder and Quincy all competed. The team finished 5th and qualified for the state competition.
The Holdrege Welding Team of Corey Hanson, Trey Weaver, JJ Bell, and Roman Urbom finished in 2nd place out of twelve schools, which qualified them for state. Trey competed in TIG welding and earned a 5th place blue ranking. Roman competed in Arc welding and earned a second-place white ribbon. JJ Bell competed in Oxy/Act and earned a 2nd place blue ribbon. Finally, competing in MIG welding, Corey placed 2nd and received a white ribbon.
The Meats Evaluation Team also competed on February 21st. The team consisted of Tad Dossett, Jacob Moon, Sam Holen, and Conner Tilson. They placed 3rd overall as a team. Individually, Tad was 1st place purple and Sam received a blue ribbon, Conner received a white ribbon, and Jacob competed.
Holdrege was represented in the Agriscience CDE with a team of Kambryn Vaughn, Haley Kunz, Reese Hodge and Katelyn Weekley. The contest centered around Plant Systems. Katelyn and Haley earned red placings with Reese Hodge earning a white placing.
The Natural Resource team of Julia Rust, Ava Kaenel, Mitchell May and Jessie Bronson competed. They were tested on wildlife identification, ecosystems, food chains, and equipment identification. Mitchell May earned a blue rating in this contest.
The Veterinary Science team of Charli Wells, Aurora Tidyman, Keeley Vaughn and Amelia Ptacnik competed. Leading not only the team, but the overall competition was Charli Wells who placed first and earned a purple ribbon. Aurora Tidyman earned a red placing with Amelia Ptacnik earning a white. The team placed 3rd overall and qualified for the state competition.
The Ag Sales team of Claire and Clay Maloley, Aldyn Hadley, and Jett Johnson also competed on February 21st. As a team they earned 3rd place and qualified for state. Aldyn and Claire both earned purple ribbons for placing 2nd and 4th respectively.
Finally, the Ag Mechanics team of Derrek Marquardt, Chase Brinkman, Nick Taylor and Curtis Eschen competed for Holdrege earning a red ranking. Derrek and Curtis both earned individual blue ratings and focused on small engines. Chase Brinkman and Nick Taylor centered on the electricity portion of the event.
Holdrege FFA Chapter members have been recognized in several proficiency areas with state qualifying applications. Senior Jaren Moore earned a district gold rating and first place for his award application in Nursery/Landscape. His Turfgrass Management application will also advance to state competition as the 2nd place district ranking. Senior Charli Wells earned district gold and first place in Equine Management-Entrepreneurship and will represent the chapter at state reviews. Senior Corey Hanson also took the top ranking, and advanced to state competition in the area of Ag Mechanics Repair and Maintenance. Sophomore Claire Maloley also earned a district gold and first place in the area of Diversified Horticulture but will wait to advance to state competition as she is a first-year applicant. Junior Nick Taylor earned a top rating in Ag Service qualifying for state reviews. Sophomore Jett Johnson received a silver ranking for his Diversified Crop Production project. Receiving District Bronze ratings were sophomores Aldyn Hadley in Beef Production, Cooper Lindstrom in Diversified Ag, and Clay Maloley in Beef Production.
Many of these students qualified for the State CDE Contests, which will be held in Lincoln April 3-5th. Senior members Corey Hanson, Jaren Moore, Charli Wells and Trey Weaver will receive their State FFA Degrees. The Parliamentary Procedure and Ag Demonstration teams and two Public Speakers will compete in Leadership Development Events that they qualified for earlier in January.
The last major activity for the chapter will be the 87th Holdrege Chapter Banquet on April 14th.
