Saint Edward FFA Chapter

The Saint Edward FFA Chapter has been involved in a lot of activities in the last months. These include two judging competitions, a retirement home rodeo, and a banquet catering job.

Wednesday, June 29, the St. Edward FFA chapter got the opportunity to help serve Miss America, Teresa Scanlan, at the banquet hosted by the Boone County Health Center.  The banquet was used as an opportunity for the Health Center to raise money toward medical equipment they had purchased.  Miss America hails from our very own state of Nebraska, growing up in the town of Gering.  Teresa was the first Miss Nebraska to win the title of Miss America.  She was also the youngest winner, at 17 years of age, since 1937.  At the banquet there was the option of meeting Miss America and getting your picture taken with her.  The Saint Edward FFA officer team was lucky enough to have that opportunity. 

Tuesday, September 20, the St. Edward FFA took 24 students to the annual Range Judging contest that was held near St. Paul this year.  Range Judging consists of identifying plants, scoring a range site, a ten question quiz, and improving a range map.  The students participating were 8th graders: Sara Baustert, Bryce Hoffmeister, Emily Cumming, Noah Micek, Becca Brauner, Kassidy Roberts and Blake Merrell; Freshmen: Christina Hamling, Alicia Hamling, Ethan Sutton, Alex Cumming, Jason Osantowski and Payton Rasmussen; Sophmores: Amber Olson and Shayla Shanle; Juniors: Devon Rasmussen, Dylan Haas and Shelton Shanle; Seniors: Morgan Scheffler, Ashleigh Olson, Jimmy Shumaker, Laura Troyer, Courtney Brauner, and Kevin Hoshor.  There were a total of 297 participants in Tuesday’s contest.  Overall the St. Edward students did very well considering how young most of them were.  The junior division consists of 8th grade through sophomores and there were 188 participants in that division.  From St. Edward we managed to place 2 students in the top 50, with Christina Hamling getting 29th and receiving a score of 373 which was the highest from our school.  Alicia Hamling also placed 43rd.  In the senior division Laura Troyer, Dylan Haas, and Courtney Brauner were the top three competitors from our school.  The junior team of Christina, Alicia, Alex, and Payton also received 12th place out of 47 teams.   The St. Edward FFA was very proud of their accomplishments and was glad they got to give that experience of range judging to the younger students.

Tuesday, September 27, the Saint Edward FFA and the Cloverlodge Care Center held their annual rodeo.  At the rodeo, residents play different rodeo related games with FFA members assisting them.  This year’s games included roping a cow, a wheelchair race, a cowpie throw, and a boot toss.  The FFA members who attended were Ashleigh Olson, Kevin Hoshor, Dylan Haas, Devon Rasmussen, Josh Osantowski and Amber Olson.  Most of the members had assisted in the rodeo before and knew it was a lot of fun.  They got to meet many residents and talk to them, while also having fun with the games.  They hope to be able to continue this rodeo in the years to come.

Thursday, October 13, the Saint Edward Ag program participated in district land judging located in Ansley, Nebraska.  We had 20 students compete in the contest.  Students attending were 8th graders: Blake Merrell, Bryce Hoffmeister, Sara Bauster, Emily Cumming, Becca Brauner, Noah Micek, and Kassidy Roberts; Freshmen: Ethan Sutton, Alicia Hamling, Christina Hamling, Alex Cumming, Payton Rasmussen, and Jason Osantowski; Sophomores: Amber Olson and Shayla Shanle; Juniors: Dylan Haas, Allison Merrell, Devon Rasmussen, Josh Osantowski, and Shelton Shanle; Seniors: Kevin Hoshor.  All of the students did very well and that showed in the fact that our school received more ribbons than any other school participating.  Individually we had 7 students place in the top 50 out of 229 competitors.  Our highest placing was Alicia Hamling with 5th place and a purple ribbon.  Dylan received 11th place, and Allison, Alex and Devon placed 32nd, 34th, and 38th respectively.  As teams we also competed very well.  The team of Dylan, Allison, Kevin, and Devon received Fourth Place and in doing that qualified for State Land Judging.  The team of Alicia, Christina, Alex and Payton received Fifth Place and missed qualifying by one placing.  Also the team of 8th graders, Emily Cumming and Becca Brauner and Freshmen Jason Osantowski received 22nd place out of 63 total teams, doing very well considering their age and inexperience.  The students are glad all their studying paid off in the competition.  State Land Judging is set for

November 2nd and will be held near Wahoo, Nebraska.