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State convention a success for Highland FFA
MONTEREY - The summer has flown by. It has been busy for students and the Future Famers of America advisor. The Highland FFA chapter spent a week at Blacksburg at the FFA state convention and the advisor spent a week at the Virginia Association for Agriculture Educators convention in Warsaw.
The 81st Virginia FFA convention was again successful for Highland County. The chapter competed in a number of events and contests and did well considering the size of this school.
Thomas Hevener was elected to the state FFA secretary office, which is regarded as the second highest office in the state.
Matthew Sponaugle also ran for state office but state guidelines only allow one office per school. When talking to the advisor who was in charge of the officer nomination process, he said Highland would have had two officers if it was allowed. Sponaugle and Hevener represented Highland well during the week-long nomination and election process.
The four state degree winners, LeAnna Armstrong, Michael Hupman, B.J. Lightner, and Hevener, were presented their state FFA degrees.
The state winning junior poultry judging team consisting of Benjamin Hull, Tyler Jamison, Chance Massey, and Rachel Murray were recognized for their achievement. Hull was high individual in the state and Jamison was sixth. This team also competed in the avian bowl.
Hull, Jamison and John McVeigh also competed in the junior agriculture mechanics contest. The team placed ninth overall in the state. Hull placed 12th, Jamison placed 15th and McVeigh placed 30th. This is a tough contest.
Travis Hiner and Shane Wiseman competed in the senior agriculture mechanics contest. They did well considering they competed against technical schools that have specific agriculture mechanic programs.
Highland competed in two contests it had never competed in before. Kate Obaugh competed in the job interview contest and placed fifth. She had to go through a complete job interview process. The contest started with a job application, an actual interview and ended with a thank you letter for the opportunity for interviewing.
The other new contest was an agriculture computer application contest. Michael Botkin competed as a senior and Charles Trible competed as a junior. This contest consisted of applying computer skills to an agricultural project. They had to be able to use a spread sheet, a word document and other computer skills. Botkin placed fourth and Trible placed second.
Sean Duff, chapter president, and Botkin chapter vice-president, represented the chapter as state delegates to the state business meetings and elections. This gave both the opportunity to see firsthand how the state organization is run.
A big surprise for the week was an award given by the hometown scholarship program. The award was given for selling chances on a Chevrolet pickup last fall. Highland sold more than 830 chances, the third most of any school in Virginia. Considering its size, this was probably the most surprising award of the week. The pick-up was won by a gentleman in North Carolina. The money was used to help pay for events such as conventions, and a scholarship given to an FFA graduate from Highland. This year's recipient was Hevener. This fund-raiser has been canceled for 2007-08 but the chapter will find a way to continue the scholarship. Mitchell Chevrolet in Marlington, W.Va., was the chapter sponsor.
The state convention will be remembered as a successful one. Advisor Steve Heavner is proud of his students. "We work hard, we enjoy the challenges of competing, and we will continue to work to be one of the top chapters in the state. Our kids deserve to be recognized for what they do and I will work to get this done," he said.
The chaperones for this event were Donald Hedrick, Susan Murray, Lisa Hevener and advisor Heavner.
The Highland FFA Chapter completed a wonderful and exciting year, Heavener said. "We are looking forward to 2007-08. We will start off with a bang at the Highland County Fair in August. See you there."
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