INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Courtney Cameron of the Lowndes High School FFA chapter was named The American Star in Agriscience at the recent National FFA Convention held here. 

Lowndes County Schools’ FFA members won five more national competitions and two earned American degrees as well.

Cameron competed against three other national finalists for the top award given by the National FFA organization, FFA officials said. 

“The American Star in Agriscience is awarded to the FFA member that demonstrates the top agriscience-based supervised agricultural experience in the nation, including students who are actively engaged in doing their own research individually, as well as those students who may be cooperating on research projects with others,” according to the national FFA website. “The member must demonstrate outstanding achievement, active FFA participation and an exemplary scholastic record.”

Cameron’s high school research SAEs included food processing and four years of studying tobacco mosaic virus. Specifically, she researched different applications of actylesalysic (or aspirin) in controlling TMV, the world’s most widespread viral crop disease.

She is now a University of Georgia Center for Undergraduate Studies Research Scholar where she was the lead researcher on a team that identified and named a new fungal pathogen of pecan trees, FFA officials said. 

She also interns at the Georgia Department of Agriculture working in the Pesticide Formulations Laboratory during her summers. 

She is the daughter of Wes and Marybeth Cameron. She plans to pursue a master of science in genetics once she completes her bachelor degree in agriscience environmental systems, FFA officials said.

Clay Parker and Cameron earned their American FFA degrees. The American FFA degree is awarded at the national FFA convention each year to less than 1% of FFA members, making it one of the organization’s highest honors. 

Requirements to earn the honor are lengthy. In addition to their degree certificate, each recipient receives a gold American FFA degree key, FFA officials said.

State Sen. Ellis Black, R-Lowndes, was awarded the honorary American FFA degree. Black was nominated for this honor by the Georgia FFA Association for the “tremendous support he has given agricultural education in the state of Georgia,” FFA representatives said.

Dawson Peek won the prestigious outdoor recreation proficiency award indicating that he has the best outdoor recreation SAE in the nation, FFA officials said. 

Peek is a freshman at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and a member of the Lowndes High School FFA. His award was for his SAE conducted at Southwinds Sporting Clays and Quail Hunting. He competed against three other national finalists with outstanding similar SAEs.

Joe Corbett, Cayden Mathews, Alexis Herring, Madison McDonald, Gracie Sutton, Jordan Brown, Johnathon Rivers and Rylen Mercer won four divisions of the National Agriscience Fair. 

From LHS FFA, Corbett and Mathews won Plant Systems, Division 4. 

Herring and McDonald won Power, Technical and Structural Systems, Division 6.

Qualifying as Lowndes Middle School FFA members, Sutton and Brown won Social Systems, Division 2. Rivers and Mercer won Food Systems, Division 2.

Also competing in the National Agriscience Fair were Britton Davis, third place; Parker Jones and Madison Webb, third place; Cedric Montgomery and Zach Gay, fourth place; Zach Daw, sixth place; Connie Rogers and Ty Parks, second place; Elizabeth Fisher, second place, and Dawson Peek and Gabriella Daughtery, eighth place.

Daughtery served as a national delegate for the Georgia FFA Association. In this role, she worked on committees to carry out the business of the national organization, FFA representatives said. She worked to make policy changes as a committee member.

Paige Jones and Suzanne Lloyd worked during the convention as members of the Courtesy Corps. They served to help with the coordination of the National Agriscience Fair.

The FFA members trip was assisted by several sponsors, including Georgia FFA Foundation, Lowndes FFA Alumni Chapter, Derrik McLeod – Farmer’s Insurance, CJB Industries and the Langdale Foundation.

The national FFA organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education, FFA officials said. Today, there are 700,170 FFA members, aged 12-21, in 8,612 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.