By Scott Sutton, FFA Advisor

The Southeast FFA Chapter continued its tremendous contest success at the Fort Scott Community College Aggie Day event held in Fort Scott, Ks on Friday, March 27th. Southeast competed in three different team events including Farm Business Management, Food Science and Floriculture. In addition three other individuals competed in Freshman Speech, Creed Speaking and Livestock Judging.

From a team perspective, the highlight of the day came from the Farm Business Management team as they took first place as they edged out teams from across the state of Kansas, including last years state champion, Paola. Individually Phillip Underwood was 2nd, Jarod Watson 5th, Aaron Westervelt 13th and Jacob Zortz 27th. The “B” team from Southeast finished 9th in the contest with Eric Underwood leading the way finishing 19th, followed by teammates John Jameson and Jacob McGuire.

The Food Science team also had a strong showing placing 2nd out of 38 teams. Megan Gall led the way by placing 5th individually, Katharina Jens was 8th, Ashton Coltrane 17th and Ryan Rakestraw finishing outside the top 25. Southeast’s “B” team was solid as well placing 11th. “B” team members included Kelsie Westervelt, who was 24th individually, Sofia Herranz Aparicio, Caleb Biancarelli and Riley Ulery. The “C” team, consisting of freshman only, placed 17th. Members were Brody Wood, Laura Ridings, Wyntr Jacobs and Brody Tickel.

The Floriculture team finished 13th out of 27 teams. Megan Gall was the teams high scorer finishing 22nd individually, while Madison Thompson, Laura Yancey and Ashton Coltrane rounded out the team.

Freshman Daisy Burns and Hannah Williams had outstanding days in the freshman speech division. Daisy competed in the FFA Creed Speaking Contest and walked away the winner for the second time this year. Hannah Williams presented in the prepared speaking division and ranked 2nd overall.

Jacob Wyckoff was Southeast’s lone livestock judging contestant and performed well by placing 25th out of 81 contestants.

The pleasant surprise of the day came in the overall sweepstakes division as Southeast FFA tied local powerhouse Labette County for 3rd place overall out of over 50 schools ranging from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The sweepstakes contest is settled by taking each school’s highest-ranking teams, and individuals, and creating an overall team score. The award was a surprise because Southeast FFA only competed in three team events of the 12 offered. But, thanks to outstanding finishes by two of the three teams and the top end finishes by the two freshman speakers, Southeast FFA managed to finish with the 3rd place ranking.