June 6-8, the Arizona Future Farmers of America (FFA) held their annual State Leadership Conference in Tucson, with some events held at the Westin La Paloma Resort, and some at the University of Arizona. At this conference, individuals and teams compete in various competitions known as Career Development Events, most of which are agriculturally-related, such as Aquaculture, Livestock Evaluation, and others.
The Kingman High School FFA Chapter sent several people to Tucson: Jerry McGuire, the agriculture teacher at KHS; students and Chapter Officer Team Serenity Sawyer, Alex Jimenez, Cassidy Bracken, Leah Jacobs, and Caleb Hays; and recent graduate Julia Ostberg, who competed in the Agricultural Education Career Development Event.
Competitors in the Ag Ed CDE had to prepare a lesson plan and powerpoint, teach the lesson to a class, write a reflective essay on the experience, and submit the lesson plan, powerpoint, video of the lesson, and the essay to be considered for the state competition. Only the top ten were chosen to compete at state. At the state conference, these top ten competitors had to plan a Chapter Officer Training Retreat, write a letter to a student regarding their Supervised Agricultural Experience, and demonstrate to a contest judge acting as a pupil how to fire up an oxy-acetylene cutting torch, how to adjust the gas and oxygen to create a neutral flame, and how to safely shut down the torch. The final rankings of the Ag Ed CDE were announced at the Fourth General Session of the conference on Saturday morning. Julia Ostberg took third place.
Ostberg remarks, “It took months of preparation and a few all-nighters. I never worked harder for something in my life.” She is planning to become an agriculture teacher and is confident that the experience she gained through this CDE will be of great use in preparing for that career.
“I’m proud of my four years in FFA,” she says. “I’m determined to do for the next generation of students what has been done for me.”
