SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O’CONNELL APPLAUDS SUCCESS OF CALIFORNIA FFA MEMBERS AT NATIONAL CONVENTION

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

November 05, 2008

CONTACT: Pam Slater
PHONE: 916-319-0818
E-MAIL: pslater@cde.ca.gov


            SACRAMENTO – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell congratulated the California students who recently earned outstanding recognition and high honors at this year’s National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.

            “I am especially proud of these young people who have worked hard for this acknowledgement at the national level,” O’Connell said. “They are serious in acquiring through education and experience the kind of aptitude and leadership they will need for future success.

“For more than 80 years, the California Department of Education has supported a comprehensive program of instruction in agriculture and will continue to proudly champion curriculum that gives our students the foundation required for an industry that is so vital to California and the nation.”

California FFA Members competed with students from all over the country to exhibit leadership and skills learned in their chapters. California had 17 National Proficiency Finalists and four national winners. In addition, Nessie Early of Shandon (San Luis Obispo County) was elected National FFA Secretary for 2008-09. 

            Many students from our golden state brought home national awards, including Andre Alves of Kingsburg (Fresno County), national winner of the Agricultural Mechanics Design and Fabrication Proficiency competition; Zachary Reinstein of Tracy (San Joaquin County) won in the Diversified Crop Production-Placement competition; Cameron Lange of the Fresno-Central FFA Chapter was the winner in the National Environmental Science and Natural Resources Proficiency area, and the Grass Valley-Nevada Union FFA Chapter National winner was Elizabeth Steele, who won for Swine Production-Entrepreneurship.

            California was also well represented in the National Career Development Events. The National Champion of the FFA Creed Speaking competition was Amika Osumi of Arroyo Grande (San Luis Obispo County). The Clovis (Fresno County) FFA team won the National Horse Judging competition. Hilmar (Merced County) FFA won second place for Dairy Cattle Evaluation, and Modesto (Stanislaus County) won second place in the Marketing Plan Event. Third Place in Livestock Judging was won by the Clovis (Fresno County) FFA Chapter, and Madera (Madera County) won third in Meats Evaluation. Escalon (San Joaquin County) students placed fifth in Agricultural Sales, and in the Poultry Evaluation event, Righetti (Santa Barbara County) took sixth. The Livingston (Merced County) team won seventh place for the Dairy Products event, and in the Environmental/Natural Resources event, Clovis (Fresno County) placed tenth.

            Those chapters bringing home gold medals were Hanford (Kings County) FFA for Floriculture and the Cottonwood-West Valley (Shasta County) Chapter for Parliamentary Procedure. San Luis Obispo won silver for Agriculture Issues, and the Hanford FFA Chapter won silver in Agriculture Mechanics. Amy Heers of Tulare Western won the silver in Extemporaneous Speaking, and the Mariposa Chapter took silver in the Forestry event. Delta FFA’s Peter Compton won silver in the Job Interview event, and Fullerton (Orange County) won silver in Nursery and Landscape. The silver medal for Prepared Public Speaking was taken by Caitlin Lewis of San Luis Obispo FFA, and Hanford FFA won bronze in Agronomy.

            The California FFA members also did very well in the Agri-Science Fair. In the Bio Chemistry/Food Science/Microbiology events, Amaury Avalos and Hadley Bickford of St. Helena (Napa County) FFA and Alyssa Scott of Davis (Yolo County) brought home gold medals. I’yuana Pettway of Sheldon (Sacramento County) and Bailee Baker and Samantha Schuring of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) won silver medals. In Botany, the gold was taken by Claire Marshall of Escalon (San Joaquin County) and Emily Lider and Marissa Crump of St. Helena (Napa County). Galt (Sacramento County) FFA’s Austin Phillips and Kevin Moore won silver. For the Engineering event, Louis Espinoza of Escalon (San Joaquin County) won the gold medal. Silver medals were won by Liam Vankeuren and David Whalin of St. Helena (Napa County), as well as Lindsey Lundy and Lauren Baglietto from Galt (Sacramento County). The bronze medal went to Joshua Larson from the Lodi (San Joaquin County) FFA Chapter. Environmental Science was also a winning event for California, with Jessica Stokes and Sarena Grossjan of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) placing as National Champions. Margaret Maratsos of Fallbrook (San Diego County), and Cassandra Crawford and Logan Santillano, both from St. Helena (Napa County), brought home gold medals, while Adriana Ochoa from Fallbrook (San Diego County) won a silver medal. The Zoology event was where California really shone, with several students becoming National Champions: AJ Hansen and Kelcey Saldivar of St. Helena (Napa County), and Alexandra Beeler, Kattie Schmidig, and Lindsey Anderson, all from Escalon (San Joaquin County). Tom Hardesty of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) also brought home the silver medal.

            The National FFA Organization, once known as the Future Farmers of America, has more than 500,000 members in all 50 states. This year’s National FFA Convention was held the week of October 22-25, 2008.

            The California Association FFA is a youth organization of 64,096 student members – all learning skills for leadership and careers in the agricultural-related fields of technology, science, and business.

For more information, please visit the CA Agricultural Association Web site at http://www.calaged.org.