FFA teams head out

After finding success at the state championships in April, FFA teams from Clovis and Portales high schools are bound for the 92nd National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis this week.

Portales will send juniors Abi Cameron, Alyssa McAlister and Emily Newberry and sophomore Rylie Courtney from its floriculture team, while Clovis sends junior Grant Palla, sophomores Cara McWilliams and Robert Gage Myers and freshman Thomas Palla from the dairy team.

The Clovis team will compete in dairy cattle evaluation and management events. They’ll spend their time sorting dairy cows based on how productive they would be, taking a 40-question test on dairy management and taking a herd record test to find information on the animals through documentation. There will also be a team event where members will act as though they were dairy managers and find solutions to health and disease scenarios.

“They’ve put in a lot of hours and a lot of hard work to get here,” said Clovis FFA Advisor Kalynn Baldock. “We’re hoping it will be a good learning experience for them. It’s a lot more than most people think. It takes a lot of work and effort and there’s so much that needs to be known for the contest.”

The Portales team will compete in the floriculture event where they will identify different flowers and tools, make arrangements, identify conditions with plants and find solutions to them and conduct a job interview.

“We’ve put in a lot of work for the past three years and a lot of work this year. We’re excited for it to finally pay off for us at nationals,” said McAlister.

Both teams will have the opportunity to learn more about agricultural career paths and learn strategies to find jobs in the industry during the convention.

The teams leave Tuesday morning to compete in events on Wednesday and Thursday and will return later in the week depending on how well they did. You can learn more about FFA and the national competitions at http://www.ffa.org.