Dallas Taylor, second from right, with Travis Tuten, SHS FFA Advisor, and State FFA Officers as he receives his award for winning the Poultry Production Proficiency.

ORLANDO — Suwannee FFA students were well-represented recently at the 90th annual Florida FFA State Convention and Expo in Orlando.

The 90th annual FFA convention was held June 11–15, with more than 5,000 FFA members and guests registered for the event. Members of both Suwannee Middle and Suwannee High schools were recognized on stage for competitions in which they competed throughout the 2017-2018 school year.

For SMS, the Parliamentary Procedure team advanced to the state competition after winning at the district level. The team competed in Orlando and eventually placed second in the state. Team members included Jake Wooley, Maddie Carte, Kenzie Kimball, Brock Daniel, Bryan Bailey and McKayden Wilkerson. The team, whose members had never competed in the contest previously, was coached by Aubrey Wilkerson.

Additionally, Wooley and Wilkerson participated in plant science category of the Agriscience Fair. They won in that category, and won the overall division 2 Agriscience Fair as well.

The SMS Poultry Team was recognized for its third place finish at the state level. Team members were Bailey, Wooley, Grant Floyd and Kyler Ramsey, and they were coached by Joe Watson.

The SMS FFA advisor is Katie Quincey.

Suwannee High students participated in Career Development Events (CDEs) throughout the year. Maggie Reaves took part in the Agriculture Education competition in December, held at the University of Florida. She placed fifth in this state competition and was recognized on-stage for her top-5 performance.

Several SMS and SHS students submitted a National Proficiency Application for Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) projects in which they have participated. They chose their projects from more than 30 categories; projects include activities completed, time spent, and profits from the activities, if applicable. All proficiencies are submitted to the State FFA office in April for judging, and subsequently the top four finalists are announced in each category. Several SMS/SHS students were finalists in their category: Sarah Beth Lee, SHS, Agriculture Communications; Reaves, SHS, Agriculture Education; Brent Long, SHS, Forage Production; Bailey, SMS, Forest Management; Dallas Taylor, SHS, Fruit/Vegetable Production and Poultry Production.

After announcing the finalists in each category, the state winner was announced. Each winner received a cash scholarship from the State FFA Foundation. Winning in their respective categories were Reaves, Long and Taylor. These students will now submit their proficiency applications for judging on the national level. Finalists and winners of the national judging will be announced at the National FFA Convention to be held in October, in Indianapolis.

SHS FFA advisors are Travis Tuten and Sarah Trimm Boles.

On the final day of state convention, SHS seniors were awarded their State FFA Degree. This is the third of four degrees available to FFA members. Requirements for this high-level degree include receipt of the first two degrees (Greenhand and Chapter), community service, hours/earnings from SAEs. Seniors receiving their State Degree were Reaves, Taylor and Will Wood. Their next and final degree will be the American FFA Degree, which will be awarded next fall if students continue and complete their projects by year-end 2018.

Suwannee Middle and High school FFA members look forward to another productive year in 2018-2019. FFA membership is open all students.