Harlan FFA Earns Top State Awards

    HARLAN -- Harlan FFA members competed in various Leadership Career Development Events at the Southwest Iowa District FFA Leadership Conference held at Southwest Valley Schools in Corning on March 6.
    Members also participated in Sub-district FFA Contests at Riverside Community Schools in Oakland on February 3, most qualifying for the district event.
    On January 28, a district review night of Iowa FFA Degrees and officer interviews were held in Carroll. The results for these events include:
Iowa FFA Degree
Candidates
    The Harlan FFA Chapter is excited that seven members have cleared the first hurdle in an effort to earn their Iowa FFA Degree. Nolan Blum, Grace Coenen, Ania Kaster, Mallory Mulligan, Jocelyn Mena, Brody Rowedder, and Julia Schechinger will represent the Harlan FFA as Iowa FFA Degree candidates this year.
     The Iowa FFA Degree is the highest award bestowed by the State FFA Association and is a culmination of 3-4 years of work each member has invested in the FFA on the local, district, and state levels and record keeping over their Supervised Agricultural Experience projects.
    Julia Schechinger also applied for a Stars Over Iowa award in the area of agricultural production. FFA is still awaiting the results from the state on this award.

Officer Book Results
    Each year the Harlan FFA reporters and secretaries prepare record keeping entries for the district career development event contest.
    The Harlan FFA reporters, Reanna Obrecht and Jocelyn Mena, prepared the chapter scrapbook, which received a 3rd place gold rating.
    The Harlan FFA secretary, Paola Gonzalez, earned a bronze rating for the secretary’s book, which included meeting attendance, agendas, and minutes.

SW Iowa District Career Development Results
    The Ag Issues and Perceptions team consisting of Jocelyn Mena, Alli Owens, Mallory Mulligan, Grace Coenen, Ania Kaster, Megan Klein placed 1st with a gold rating, qualifying for the state competition. Their panel discussion focused on Bees and Pesticides.
    The Ag Impact team consisting of Grant Petersen, Lauren Schmitz, Kennedi Reisz and Hailey Springman was selected as the alternate to state with a gold rating. They submitted a research paper and gave a presentation on the agricultural impact in Southwest Iowa.
    Paola Gonzalez, Stephanie Scheuring, and Ryleigh Obrecht earned a gold rating in the Chapter Program of Activities contest. The group created a presentation of the program of activities of our chapter, including statistics to support chapter participation.
    The Conduct of Meetings team consisting of Micah Sorensen, Emily Schechinger, Scarlett McGuinness, Claire Schmitz, Marissa Schmidt, Teya Frohlich, and Joseph Bragg earned a gold rating. This contest is developed for students to show how to properly conduct an FFA meeting.
    Stephen Leinen participated in the individual Ag Sales contest where he attempted to sell an agricultural product to a role playing customer. He earned a silver rating for his efforts.
    Cameron Springman participated in the Prepared Public Speaking contest where she gave a speech focused around gluten allergy issues. She earned a silver rating for her participation in this contest.
    Michael Barrett participated in the Extemporaneous Speaking competition where he had 30 minutes to prepare a speech over a variety of selected agricultural subjects. He earned a bronze rating.
    Grace Coenen represented Harlan FFA by running for a Southwest Iowa District FFA Officer position for the 2021-2022 school year. She was balloted to the vice president position, after completing a round of interviews, taking a test, and giving a speech and answering questions in front of the voting delegates at the business session. She unfortunately was not selected for the office.
    Seven freshmen took the Greenhand (FFA Knowledge) Quiz for the district competition. These members included: Gold Ratings- Emily Schechinger, Joseph Bragg, Claire Schmitz and Silver Ratings- Marissa Schmidt, Scarlett McGuinness, Teya Frohlich, Micah Sorensen.
    Reanna Obrecht and Alex Barrett attended the District Convention to serve as voting delegates.
    The previously described contests and their participants qualified from the Sub-district FFA Competition at Riverside Community Schools on February 3.
    The following students participated in this competition but did not qualify for districts.
    Tianna Kasperbauer participated in the Job Interview contest where she was mock interviewed for a veterinary assistant position. She earned a silver rating in the event.