LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
A9
Ag students mark FFA Week amid pandemic
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— FFA students in Wal-
lowa County are celebrating
National FFA Week this week
by sharing the successes of
their chapters and modifying
their activities to cope with
the COVID-19 pandemic,
according to a press release.
A majority of the events
during the Feb. 20-27 week
have been forced to change
during the past school year
because of the pandemic.
Those changes included how
meetings are held, commu-
nity service and career devel-
opment events. Despite the
changes, students in FFA —
formerly known as Future
Farmers of America — have
found ways to live and thrive
in school and in the FFA
events, the release stated.
“We work to keep our
students in their assigned
cohorts, all students wear
masks and we keep our dis-
tance,” the release stated.
In the fall, FFA chapters
held their soils competition,
largely with the help of Stan-
gel Bison Ranch providing a
pit and Dave Yost for offi ci-
ating. Also held were com-
petitions in crops and weeds
via Google Forms, rituals via
Zoom and members partic-
ipated in virtual workshops
with the state FFA offi cers.
As winter approached, the
students participated virtu-
ally in an agricultural sales
competition and the FFA dis-
trict hosted the annual career
development events, with the
Enterprise and Joseph chap-
ters excelling.
Aside from competi-
tions, another honor in FFA
is to earn the highest award
the state can bestow upon
its members, the State FFA
Degree. To receive this honor
members must have earned
or invested $1,500 or worked
a minimum of 500 hours.
They must prove involve-
ment in the FFA, serve on
a chapter committee, com-
plete 25 hours of commu-
nity service and more. Joseph
Jeremy McCulloch/Contributed Photo
Wallowa Junior High agriculture and FFA students work on projects in their banner-adorned
classroom recently. The school’s participation in National FFA Week was limited by the
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
had seven members earn this
honor and Enterprise had 21
members.
Joseph members who
earned this honor are Ana-
belle Russell, Hayden Hite,
Jonah Staigle, Trace Col-
lier, Ian Goodrich, Des-
tany Moore and Maggie
Zacharias.
Enterprise members who
earned the State FFA Degree
were Andy Huwe, Eliza-
beth Rowley, Bailey Vernam,
Dylan Jennings, Gideon
Gray, Jada Gray, Hunter
Harvey, Destiny Wecks,
Landon Greenshields, Lan-
nie Stonebrink, Alona Yost,
Gaven Winn, Kasey Dun-
can, Rilyn Kirkland, Caylynn
Beck, Alex Albanez, Carrin
Yaw, Grace Collins, Flynn
Nave, Gracie Ellis and Addie
Royes.
In the CDE team
competitions:
Soils Judging and Crops
and Weeds:
Joseph placed fi rst.
Rituals:
Joseph’s
Beginning
Greenhand Team placed sec-
ond and Enterprise’s Begin-
ning Team was fourth.
Agriculture Sales and
Service:
Joseph’s Advanced Team
placed second and its Begin-
ning Team placed fi rst, Enter-
prise’s Advanced Team
placed fourth and its Begin-
ning Team placed fourth.
Advanced Parliamen-
tary Procedure:
Enterprise’s Team of
Flynn Nave, Alona Yost,
Bailey Vernam, Cody Fent,
Trace Evans, Aubrina Mel-
ville and Maclane Melville
placed fi rst in Districts and
fi rst in Sectionals. Joseph’s
Team of Mary Thiel, Hayden
Hite, Trace Collier, Juston
Rogers, Layla Snyder and
McKenzie Keffer.
Beginning Parliamen-
tary Procedure:
Enterprise’s team of Jes-
sica Jourigan, Talia Aase,
Brandon Charlton, Zach
Farr-Roberts, Alex Rowley,
Quincee Zacharias and Codi
Cunningham placed fourth.
Joseph’s team of Owen Gor-
ham, Kane Johnson, Aimee
Myers, Cooper Nave, Wil-
liam Clark, Andrew Beachy
and Payton Hess placed sec-
ond in Districts and fi rst in
Sectionals.
Creed Speakers:
Enterprise’s team was
Codi Cunningham, Quin-
cee Zacharias and Jessica
Journigan. Joseph’s team was
Kane Johnson and Rhyson
Collier.
Trace Evans tops the list of
Elks scholarship winners
Beginning
Public
Speaking:
Enterprise’s team was
Zander Flores, Sydney Hop-
kins and Lily Royes. Joseph’s
team was Cooper Nave
(third) and Jaxon Grover.
Sophomore
Pubic
Speaking:
Enterprise’s team was
Tanner Kesecker, Emily
Love and Harlie Stein.
Joseph’s team was Mary
Thiel (fi rst at Districts, fourth
at Sectionals) and McKenzie
Keffer.
Advanced
Public
Speaking:
Enterprise’s team was
Tegan Evans and Destiny
Wecks. Joseph’s team was
Anabelle Russell (second at
Districts and fi rst at Section-
als) and Jonah Staigle (third.)
Extemporaneous
Speaking:
Bailey
Vernam
of
Enterprise.
Job Interview:
Enterprise’s team was
Alona Yost and Casidee Har-
rod. Joseph’s team was Josey
Wearin and Grace Hickman.
The FFA mission is to
provide the next genera-
tion of leaders who will
change the world by focus-
ing on premier leadership,
personal growth and career
success through agricultural
education, according to the
press release. This mission
has been proven through the
hard work of all of our stu-
dents during these challeng-
ing times.
In a statement from Wal-
lowa’s FFA adviser, Jeremy
McCulloch, he said most of
that chapter’s activities for
FFA Week were curtailed by
the pandemic restrictions.
“Everybody’s picking and
choosing with all this going
on,” he said.
“This year in Wallowa, we
were forced due to COVID-
19 restrictions to stay pretty
much in-house during FFA
Week. Many years we are
able to do outside events in
the community and engage
with our alumni and support-
ers in more ways,” McCull-
och said in an email. “The
focus this year, being forced
by regulations to be internal,
have shifted toward making
sure our next generation of
FFA members, our Discov-
ery members in seventh and
eighth grade are prepared for
FFA membership and excited
for what the future holds.
Chapter offi cers helped with
some team-building projects
and we have some commu-
nity service projects we are
working on in the shops.
McCulloch said his chap-
ter is working toward spring.
“Our Introduction to Agri-
culture class also spent FFA
Week gearing up for spring
activities like the annual plant
sale and our chapter offi cers
have began discussions about
our (we hope) annual chapter
banquet,” he said.
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Duncan, Salim,
Farwell also
honored
Chieftain staff
Evans
ENTERPRISE — The
Enterprise Elks Lodge
No. 1829 recently held its
2020/21 Most Valuable
Student Competition, and
selected Trace Evans and
Kasey Duncan, of Enter-
prise High School, as their
2021 Most Valuable Stu-
dent Scholars, according
to a press release.
Each student receives
a $1,200 scholarship from
the lodge to use next fall
for college.
Placing second, and
receiving $800 each are
David Salim and Claire
Farwell, also of Enterprise
High School.
All
four
students
advanced to the Elks
Northeast District Judg-
ing on Jan. 4, where first
place receives $1,800, sec-
ond place receives $1,600
and third place receives
$1,400. Evans placed sec-
ond in the boys competi-
tion for our district, receiv-
ing an additional $1,600.
His application was to
advance to the state com-
petition Feb. 13, in New-
port, because while the 14
first-place district winners
automatically advance to
the Grand Lodge Schol-
arship contest, Oregon
also is allowed to send an
additional three applica-
tions to the Grand Lodge
competition, so all sec-
ond-place district winners
are advanced to the state
level for further judging
as well. If they advance
to the Grand Lodge level,
they will join 486 other
scholarship winners across
Duncan
the country for a chance to
earn a $50,000 scholarship
for four years.
Evans is the son of Teah
Jones and Todd Evans, and
plans to attend St. Mary’s
College, in Leavenworth,
Kansas, to major in his-
tory education or prelaw.
He plans to wrestle colle-
giately for St. Mary’s.
Duncan is the daughter
of Rob and Tamarah Dun-
can, and plans to attend
the University of Idaho,
and major in architecture
and interior design.
Farwell is the daughter
of Troy and Lisa Farwell
and plans to attend either
Gonzaga University in
Spokane, Washington, or
Salim
Farwell
Washington State Univer-
sity in Pullman, and major
in mathematics education.
Salim is the son of
Sarah Jackman, and plans
to attend the University of
Idaho and major in electri-
cal engineering and music.
Last year, the Elks
National Foundation pro-
vided more than $3.65
million in college schol-
arships
to
graduat-
ing seniors. This year’s
amount will be similar, but
as yet, is not known. The
Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks is second
only to the federal gov-
ernment in scholarships
awarded to seniors in high
school.
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