Spring is a busy time of the year for FFA Chapters. Between numerous competitions, Chapter Officer Elections, the year-end banquet, and the State FFA Convention, FFA members are busy to say the least.

One of the most exciting things about participating in FFA is the opportunity to compete against other FFA Chapters in Career Development Events. CDE’s are contests designed for FFA members to build on areas of interest that could potentially lead to a career in that area in the future. Contest range from Livestock Judging, Entomology, Food Science, Floriculture to Farm Business Management. In total there are twenty-five CDE’s within FFA.

One of Southeast FFA’s most successful CDE teams over the past year has been it’s Farm Business Management team. This contest assesses the FFA member’s knowledge of all the things that go into running a successful farm or ranching operation. The team consists of four members, with each contest using the top three scores from the team to formulate their score.

Kelsie Coltrane, Senior, and Juniors Jarod Watson, Phillip Underwood and Jacob Zortz make-up Southeast FFA’s Farm Business Management team. They have competed in five Farm Business Management contest over the course of the school year and have yet to finish outside the top four. Highlights include the following:

Southeast District FFA Contest:
3rd Place Overall Team
4th Place Individual- Phillip Underwood
5th Place Individual- Jarod Watson

Coffeyville Community College Aggie Days:
1st Place Overall Team
2nd Place Individual- Jarod Watson
3rd Place Individual- Phillip Underwood
10th Place Individual- Jacob Zortz

Fort Scott Community College Aggie Days:
2nd Place Overall Team
4th Place Individual- Kelsie Coltrane
6th Place Individual- Jarod Watson

Allen County Aggie Days:
2nd Place Overall Team
5th Place Individual- Phillip Underwood
10th Place Individual- Jarod Watson

NEO Aggie Days:
4th Place Overall Team
4th Place Individual- Jarod Watson
9th Place Individual- Phillip Underwood

With it’s performance, the team has easily qualified to represent Southeast High School at the State FFA Contest to be held in Manhattan, KS May 4th – 6th. Teams that win the state contest represent Kansas at the National Contest, which is held in Louisville, Kentucky in late October.

Also qualifying for the State Contest is Junior Megan Gall. Megan’s strongest contest is Food Science, in which she placed 9th at Fort Scott Community College Aggie days out of 177 contestants, and 11th at Allen County Aggie Days out of over 200 contestants. She will also represent Southeast in the Floriculture Contest, a contest in which she placed 2nd in Individually at the Southeast District Contest held in April.