State stars

Joe Lindberg and Kylie Skadberg of the Carrington FFA Chapter have been named the 2024 North Dakota FFA State Star Winners. The winners were announced during the 95th North Dakota State FFA Convention on June 5.

The finalists were selected based on their written application that included their established agribusiness, skills learned, and FFA involvement. Each finalist completed an interview to further explain their Supervised Agricultural Experience. Joe and Kylie received a plaque, traveling trophy and a $1,000 cash award.

Joe's Supervised Agricultural Experience Program began when he purchased eight minnow traps from his step-brother in 2021. He worked with Thelma Trecker, the owner of Pioneer Bait Shop, in Jamestown, North Dakota, to supply her minnow inventory throughout the year. Over the past three years, Joe has purchased additional traps, ice saws, coolers and aerators to expand his business.

Joe has also been a leader of the Carrington FFA Chapter, serving as an officer for the past three years. He has been involved in a variety of Career Development Events including Agronomy, Parliamentary Procedure, Farm Business Management, Agricultural Mechanics, Land Judging, Environmental Science and Natural Resources and Range Management.

Skadberg was the State Star in Agricultural Placement. Kylie started working at Barton Meats her freshman year. She wanted to find a job that was more than just babysitting and she had fond memories processing beef cattle at her great-grandpa's barn, thus leading her to getting a job at Bartons.

When she first started her duties included helping customers, stuffing ground beef, seasoning steaks and roasts, but her main responsibility was meat wrapping. Over the years she has learned to operate more processing equipment from the Cryovac machine to the meat smoker. She has also assisted in processing beef sticks, jerky and sausage, along with wrapping different cuts of meat.

Kylie has served as a chapter officer for the past three years and been involved in many Career Development Events including Meats Evaluation, Parliamentary Procedure, Livestock Judging, and Dairy Cattle Judging.

In addition, Emma Aberle was also one of four finalists for the State Star in Agricultural Placement. Emma has been employed at the Carrington Research Extension Center in the Pathology Department for the past four years. She assists with several research projects by installing irrigation, taking field notes, transcribing notes, evaluating plant roots and supervising other student employees.