West Liberty FFA traveled to Indianapolis for the 96th annual National Convention, Nov. 1-4, once again proving the local chapter has what it takes to compete on the national stage.
“This was the strongest showing in terms of how high our teams placed in Indianapolis,” said school FFA director Zach Morris, who led 28 students to the event.
Overall, West Liberty FFA earned a Three-Star National Chapter Award for the 13th straight year in a row. This means the chapter has been in the top three percent of chapters nationwide for over a decade.
This was a landmark year for the West Liberty Agricultural Issues team, which achieved fourth place in nationals in the Agricultural Issues Forum Leadership Development Event.
This is the fourth time West Liberty has sent an Ag Issue team to national competition, but the first time the team has made national finals.
It consisted of Mya Elizondo, Paige Werling, Addyson Lehman, Nellie Stagg, David Mahoney, Dominic Hernandez, and Amerie Alvarado.
To top it off, former West Liberty High School students Morgan Hodge and Blaze Maas earned Proficiency Awards, a grueling process that requires a significant amount of work.
Hodge, currently a freshman at William Penn University, took first place. She now has the distinction of being the first student from West Liberty to take first at the national level.
Meanwhile, Mass, a freshman at Kirkwood Community College, was a national runner up. This brings the number of students with national proficiency awards from West Liberty up to four.
Hodge and Mass joined former West Liberty graduates Gracie Danner and Lindsay Laughlin as part of an elite group that has achieved the distinction of achieving a Proficiency Award at the national level.
“Proficiency awards take a significant amount of work,” said Morris. “They are a 25-page application which involves skills attained, reflections on those skills, qualitative and quantitative data on their project, photographic evidence and financial records.”
To even get to nationals students must receive a gold rating at state, from there only the top four students per state get to make it to the national convention.
Morgan Hodge focused on outdoor recreation. At 13, she began trap shooting, eventually becoming a youth club manager at the Muscatine Izaak Walton League Gun Club.
“Prior to the start of my SAE, no student has ever worked at the gun club,” she explained in her application. “This position was created specifically to involve youth in outdoor sports and allow me the opportunity to work on recruiting younger members.”
Her responsibilities that ultimately lead to receiving the Proficiency Award included caring for the indoor facilities and events, working the kitchen, managing the office, and organizing the clubhouse.
Blaze Maas focused on wildlife production and management. He provided many services for Broken Law Outfitters, including planting and managing land through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), planting trees, hinge-cutting trees, planting and managing food plots.
“Throughout my experience, I was able to work with customers on CRP planning, cover crop management and providing wildlife experiences, it is a passion of mine,” he wrote in his application.
Agricultural Issues team members tackled meat processing in the United States during finals at nationals. They discussed how companies have monopolized the meat market and that effect on the profitability of beef producers in Iowa and the United States.
The team first met last January and selected their topic. They competed at the district level in March and the state event in April. They were required to complete several public forums. They presented locally to several civic organizations as well as the Secretary of Agriculture in Des Moines.
Ultimately, they came in fourth at the national level, with each member of the team earning a scholarship.
However, the FFA national convention isn’t just about competing. Students heard from keynote speakers, participated in a college/career show, visited a tiger rescue and went to a FFA sponsored rodeo.
So what’s next for West Liberty FFA?
“West Liberty has been busy preparing for the completion of the fruit sale fundraiser and poinsettia sales,” said Director Morris. “We will soon be starting our winter service projects such as tie blankets, meal packaging, etc.” He also expects a full slate of students to participate in the upcoming competition season.