The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Fessenden-Bowdon FFA members that attended state convention, front row, left to right: Brody Jones, Delaney Erfle, Logan Grover, Mark Hovland (Honorary State Degree Recipient), Rylee Jones, Rachel Neumiller, Bella Long and Westin Opdahl. Back row: Donavin Bartz, Lucas Copenhaver, Carter Laber, Ryan Snively, Porter Johnson, Gavin Mason, Boston Fike, Kendra Hoff and Hanna Widicker.
The Small Animal Care team placed sixth place overall at the 2023 State FFA Convention. Participants included, left to right: Bella Long, Kendra Hoff, Rylee Jones and Rachel Neumiller.
Carter Laber (Basic Ag Mechanics), Porter Johnson (Intermediate Ag Mechanics) and Logan Grover (Advanced Ag Mechanics) all earned gold awards at the 2023 State FFA Convention.
Sixteen members of the Fessenden-Bowdon FFA Chapter recently participated in the 94th North Dakota State FFA Convention. The Convention was held on the NDSU campus June 5-8.
Highlighting the major accomplishments of the week was the naming of Ryan Snively as the state winner in the Agriculture Repair and Maintenance Entrepreneurship Proficiency award area. Snively's application will now go onto national competition. Other state finalists in the proficiency program were Gavin Mason in the Diversified Crop Production Placement area and Garin Opdahl in the Turf Grass Management Entrepreneurship area.
In the Individual Agriculture Mechanics Competitive events, the Fessenden-Bowdon members earned three gold awards. In the Advanced Agriculture event, Logan Grover finished seventh out of 114 to earn a gold award and win a hammer and tool belt. Porter Johnson finished in eighth out of 36 in the intermediate division, earning a gold award and winning a Black and Decker Jig Saw. In the basic division, Carter Laber finished ninth out of 39 earning a gold award and winning a Milwaukee cordless drill driver.
The team events were strong for the chapter this year with all four teams earning top 12 finishes overall. Earning a gold award was the Small Animal Care team, while the Food Science, Environmental and Natural Resources and Nursery and Landscape teams all earned silver awards.
The Small Animal Care team finished as the sixth place team and was led by Rylee Jones who earned a gold award finishing in 19th place out of 242 participants. Bella Long (30th) and Rachel Neumiller (32nd) also earned gold individual awards. Kendra Hoff earned the top bronze award. The Small Animal Care Event was the largest team event with 68 FFA chapters participating.
The Food Science team had a great day as they finished 10th overall. Donavin Bartz (35th) and Delaney Erfle (41st), both earned gold awards, while Gavin Mason and Rylee Jones earned silver awards. Kendra Hoff also participated in the event. There were 222 participants and 57 FFA chapters participating in this event.
The ENR team (Environmental and Natural Resources) finished in 12th place overall. Ryan Snively earned a gold award and finished 22nd to lead the team. Others competing in the event were Donavin Bartz, Delaney Erfle and Westin Opdahl, who all earned silver awards. Gavin Mason earned a bronze award. There were 228 participants and 64 FFA chapters participating in the ENR event.
The chapter had four individuals that competed in the Nursery and Landscape event with the Fessenden-Bowdon team finishing in 11th place overall. Logan Grover led the team with a 24th place finish earning a silver award. Lucas Copenhaver (45th) and Boston Fike (48th), also earned silver awards, while Westin Opdahl earned a bronze award. There were 112 participants and 37 FFA chapters participating in the event.
The chapter had two competitive team events that only had two participants in each. In all team events, three-five participants are needed to field a full team. The Meats Evaluation group was led by Hanna Widicker, who earned a silver award, finishing in 42nd overall. Ryan Snively also earned a silver award in the Meats Evaluation event. There were 132 participants and 43 FFA Chapters participating in the event.
Hanna Widicker, also led the two floriculture participants that the chapter had in that event. Widicker finished 32nd overall and earned a gold award. Rachel Neumiller participated in this event for the very first time and earned a bronze award. The floriculture CDE had 172 participants and 55 FFA Chapters participating in it.
The Courtesy Corp was represented by Brody Jones from the chapter this year. The Courtesy Corp provides an extremely important link between the convention activities and their success. Jones earned a silver award for his daily work on the Courtesy Corps.
Graduate member Regan Jones finished her year as the state treasurer on an outstanding note. The NDSU student's week was filled with meetings, practice and official session duties. Her retiring address on Thursday morning was outstanding as she performed one of her last official duties as a state officer. Earlier in the week, Jones was nominated for the American FFA Degree and will receive that award at the National FFA Convention this fall in Indianapolis.
This year, the chapter nominated area businessman Mark Hovland for the Honorary State FFA Degree. Hovland received his award on the opening night of the convention during the initiation ceremony. Hovland has been an instrumental part of the daily successes of many of the surrounding FFA chapters including Fessenden-Bowdon, Harvey, Maddock A.S. Gibbons and Carrington and has supported the North Dakota FFA Association and Foundation for many years.
The chapter this year was represented by one senior, five junior, four sophomores, two freshmen, two eighth graders and two seventh graders. All members gained valuable lifetime experiences in their events, Leadership workshops and convention sessions.
