HOWARD — Students from the East Knox FFA chapter have been hard at work, demonstrating their skills and knowledge in a career development event (CDE) competition.
Nursery/landscape team takes 5th place finish at state
Wyatt Baker, Hayden Garman, AJ Salmons and Caylynn Kieber qualified to compete in the Nursery/Landscape CDE finals.Â
Individually, Garman placed fifth overall. The team placed 5th overall and earned a state banner for the hallway.
To qualify, members have to take two rounds of totally different online exams.
The first part of the round includes a general knowledge test covering soils, landscape design, plant installation, landscape construction, landscape maintenance, professionalism in the green industry, plant growth and development, and plant health management. The second part of round one is a safety test.Â
Practicums rotate between even and odd years. This year, students were tested on landscape installation equipment, skid steer loader, brick saw, rototiller and power blower. Along with those tests, members must complete an online problem-solving activity where they are asked to calculate the materials needed to complete the landscape feature in the scenario.Â
During round two, members must identify different plant specimens. They include deciduous trees, shrubs and annuals; evergreen trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials; 40 additional specimens with 80% being from weeds, insects, diseases and turf and 20% from supplies and tools. Members also complete problem-solving activities that focus on the practicums from that year. Â
After both rounds are completed, the scores are tallied, and the top ten teams qualify for the in-person state finals event held at Delaware Area Career Center over spring break. In the state event, competitors had to complete the following stations: grading and drainage; paver installation; skid-steer loader operation; plant layout; elevation calculations; and an application calculation test. Â
Team takes 12th in state for milk quality & products
Seniors Ariel Atkinson and Joey Lively, sophomore Nealie Oliver and freshman McKenzie Schwartz competed as a team in the State FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event at The Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.
The Milk Quality & Products event is an educational activity designed as a practical method for teaching students hands-on skills and identifying various dairy products and quality problems associated with milk.Â
Competitors had to identify off-flavors and intensity of the flavor in 10 milk samples; recognize dairy and nondairy products and determine milk fat percentage or vegetable fat in the samples. They also had to identify cheeses from a list of 20 and complete a cheese matrix including moisture and fat content, origin, pasta filata, how it was ripened and brine or surface salted. Other elements of the competition included completing a California Mastitis Test on milk samples and an online test with problem-solving questions.Â
Chadwick participates in state poultry CDE
John Chadwick represented the East Knox FFA in the State Poultry event, where he placed 68th as a single-member team.
In the event, members judge classes of past production hens, broilers, and ready-to-cook broilers; grade eggs for interior and exterior qualities; identify broiler parts, determine problems with further processed poultry products, grade broiler carcasses and complete a written test including calculation problems.
Negron competes in state equine management
Madison Negron placed 104th as a single-member team in the state Equine Management CDE.
The competition is a hands-on approach to teaching students modern horse evaluation and selection skills while also developing management skills critical for success in the equine industry.
During the evaluation, members must take an online examination, complete tack and equipment identification, judge two halter classes, evaluate up to four performance classes, answer 15 questions on the classes and evaluate hay with a scenario.Â
Garman and Wine evaluated quality production in General Livestock Career Development CDE
Hayden Garman and Alexia Wine represented East Knox in the General Livestock Career Development Event, taking 182nd place in the state.
The event is designed to help members recognize quality production livestock animals and their traits.
Participants place several animals in classes according to their appearance, movement and other characteristics. They may also consider records and data. The animal’s classes can be any species of livestock, including swine, cattle, and sheep. Members may also be asked to evaluate animal classes based on their market qualities.
Competitors also determine which animals to keep and which to sell in the keep or cull classes. The participants also answered questions about the classes. Each member was scored based on how well they answered them and on how they did in the rest of the contest.
The skills students learn in evaluating general livestock should make them better livestock producers and consumers by providing hands-on, practical experience in identifying and understanding characteristics that affect production and quality.