The week of Oct. 30-Nov. 3, Vallivue’s FFA chapter traveled to Indianapolis to compete at the FFA National Convention. Our Forestry Team earned a silver award overall, and junior Paul Agenbroad placed 5th in the nation out of 40 gold top individuals for Forestry.

How exactly does a forestry team compete? Forestry involves the cutting and production of wood and lumber for houses. In this competition, the students are tested on plant identification, tool identification, tree identification, timber cruising, compasses, and disorders of wood. Seniors Riley Shearn, Adrian Franco and Brynley Hyer competed with Agenbroad. Agenbroad was shocked to place 5th nationally. “I was not expecting it. Out of 40 top gold individuals, I was the only dude from the west,” Agenbroad explains.

This team has been preparing for this competition all year long. Shearn, Franco, Hyer and Agenbroad stayed after school most days to study tests, questions, different practicums and new material. For Hyer, the biggest challenge was memorizing everything that was needed because memorizing is not her strongest skill. Hyer explains that she is most proud of how far she got. “I am most proud that I stuck with it and how far I got with it because we made it to nationals and won state,” she says. Franco says that the most challenging thing for him was memorizing all the little things on different plants. Shearn also felt that learning all new material and memorizing was the most challenging aspect for her.

In addition to competing at Nationals, the FFA officers were able to travel to Kentucky and tour different businesses (such as an equine medical facility called KESMARC) and cultural landmarks like Churchill Downs, the Indy 500 Track and the Louisville Slugger factory. The next national competition for FFA will take place in June in Washington D.C.