Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

Jim Rose

Montana State FFA Advisor

Montana FFA Members recently returned from participation at the National FFA Convention and Expo held in Indianapolis, IN. Approximately six hundred and fifty Montana students attended the convention where they engaged in competitions, leadership workshops, tours and educational seminars. This annual event attracted just over 60,000 members from across the nation.

Individual members that rose to the top in their respective competitions were led by Miles City’s Nolan Muggli who placed 2nd in the National Mechanics competition, Missoula’s Shaun Billingsley who placed 5th in the National Meats Evaluation competition and Grass Range’s Morgan Corean who placed 9th in the National Vet Science event. Lexy Dietz from Shepherd competed as one of four national finalists in the Goat Production Proficiency Award area.

Congratulations to the Miles City Mechanics team for placing 4th in the National FFA Mechanics Competition, to the Big Timber Chapter for 5th in the National FFA Farm Business Management contest and the Grass Range Chapter for placing 7th in the National Vet Science event. Also, Wyatt Iverson and Rudy Kummer from Bainville placed 4th in Power Systems in the National Agri-Science Fair. These were the only teams from Montana placing in the top ten nationally.

The following are the results of how the other Montana chapters placed during this year’s national convention: Floriculture – Joliet – Silver, Marketing plan – Cascade – Bronze, Conduct of meetings – Shepherd – Silver, Parliamentary Procedure – Kalispell – Gold, Environmental and Natural Resource Management – Deer Lodge – Bronze, Creed – Rylee Glimm (Kalispell) – Silver, Extemporaneous Speaking – Miles Graveley (Deer Lodge) – Silver, Employment Skills – Lainey Kitzman (Billings) – Bronze, Prepared Speaking – Matthew Slivka (Winifred) – Bronze, Forestry – Mission Valley – Silver, Agronomy – Shields Valley - Silver, Ag Issues – Corvallis – Silver, Farm Business Management – Big Timber – Gold, Food Science – Belgrade – Silver, Ag Sales – Kalispell – Silver, Vet Science – Grass Range - Gold, Meats – Missoula – Gold, Ag Communication – Cascade – Bronze, Horse – Missoula – Silver, Ag Mechanics – Miles City – Gold, and Livestock – Miles City - Gold.

*Note – Gold, Silver and Bronze ratings represent roughly the top, the middle, and the lower third of teams participating.

In addition to the contest placings, 17 members received the American FFA Degree. They are as follows: Harleigh Johnson – Beaverhead, Alyssa Thormahlen – Belfry, Nicole Green – Big Horn, Callie Williams – Broadus, Taylor Noyes – Broadwater, Hannah LaBree – and Heather LaBree from Carter County, Alyssa Nicole Gruszie – Chinook, Jacob Crowder and Tyler Wilbanks from Culbertson, Dacey Robertson – Fromberg, Luke Heupel, and Bethany Lyford from Kalispell and Max Andres – Missoula.

This degree is the highest degree that can be bestowed upon a member and represents at least five years of dedicated participation in the FFA organization. Additionally, chapters across Montana were recognized for their activities held throughout the year. Bainville, Shields Valley and Columbus earned a 1 star award, Fromberg, Joliet, Kalispell and Park City earned a 2 star award and Beaverhead, Shepherd and Simms were identified as three star winners which is the highest ranking a chapter can receive.

Finally, Emily Cole from Roundup participated in the National Talent Program and Haylee Adams from Laurel participated in the National FFA Band. Also, Montana Agriculture Education was awarded a 100% membership award and the Montana FFA Association received an award for membership growth.

The next event for Montana’s FFA Members will be the Montana FFA Ag Expo, a regional activity set for Nov. 11th – 13th in Bozeman.