By Scott Sutton

The Southeast FFA Chapter competed in the Southeast District FFA Welding competition on Wednesday, January 21 at Coffeyville Community College Welding Institute in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Three Sophomore FFA members, Ian Smith, Truman Buckley and Jacob Wyckoff, represented Southeast in the district competition. The Southeast Kansas FFA district consist of 24 local schools ranging from Fort Scott to Yates Center to Coffeyville to Riverton and everywhere in between.

After completing a written test and performing different welding and metal cutting skills, the team from Southeast was awarded 3rd overall team in the Sophomore/Freshman Division. Ian Smith helped carry the team to the 3rd place ranking by scoring well enough individually to be named the 3rd high overall individual.

The three members were also joined by Junior Stetson Brisbin who competed but didn’t place in the Junior/Senior division. All four of the students are in Mr. Sutton’s 7th hour Agriculture Mechanics class where they have been spending time preparing for the competition over the past month.