WHS FFA Competes at State
Members of the Waller High School (WHS) Future Farmers of America (FFA) Teams traveled to different universities to compete in the State FFA Career Development Event (CDE) Contests. They traveled to Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Sam Houston State Universities to compete. CDEs build on what is learned in agricultural classes and encourage members to put their knowledge into practice.
To qualify for State, students participate in various invitational competitions across Texas during the spring semester. Each invitational helps students prepare for Area FFA CDE Competitions. Students must compete in Area and be one of the top placing teams to advance to State. Only a small percentage of those teams move to State based on the total number of teams entered in the competition. In order to prepare, WHS FFA students attend practices before and after school, as well as during their advisory period.
“We are so very proud of the FFA students who qualified and participated at the State contests. It took a lot of dedication, commitment, and preparation for them to get to that point,” WHS FFA Advisor Barbie Schmidt said. “Some of these students have to juggle a lot of other activities just to be able to participate.”
WHS Senior Payton Coursey won First High Individual at the State Livestock Contest. First High Individual is awarded to the one participant who achieves the highest score. Coursey was 13 points away from holding a perfect score.
“We see a lot of promise in the Waller FFA Program. It is our hope that we will continue to grow so that we can continue to offer more opportunities for our students to not only participate but to excel,” Schmidt said. “FFA is a great organization that provides premier leadership, personal growth, and career success to those students who are involved.”
Team Results:
- Livestock (seventh): Payton Coursey, Parker Wilson, Kaitlynn Woolley, and Cayden Alexander
- Agriculture Sales (12th): Sayler Schmidt, Riley Kohler, Kaleb McLean, and Ethan Price
- Entomology (34th): Lillian Geiman, Janilet Alonis-Bolanos, Emma Hartley, and Rana Francone
- Veterinary Science (42nd): Kirsten McBride, Madison Roberson, Madelyn Wawarofsky, and Brooklyn Bean
- Meats (46th): Colton Horn, Alicia Williams, and Trinity Kieschnick