Taking first is big. The Big Sandy FFA Senior team took 1st place, with Severin Heimbigner taking first individually. Cooper followed up, taking fifth out of several hundred kids. Conner Sibra and Christian Windrel supported him. It was interesting because Severin was chosen as the first tenor in the Honors Choir just a few weeks earlier. I was interested that he had succeeded in two totally different areas so close together.

I asked Severin about his first-place win in FFA. "The contest I took first in was Fergus Mechanics. I have placed in the top two there three times so far. In 2020, I placed second in the Jr. Division(7th-9th grades); in 2022, I took first my freshman year in the Jr. Division as well. We couldn't go as a team last year, but Lance Rutledge went down and competed for Big Sandy by himself. This year, for the Senior Division, I took first, Cooper Taylor took 5th, and Conner Sibra and Christian Windril also competed. Warren and Owen competed in the Jr. Division, but I don't know their placings either. We all do really well in a lot of the mechanics competitions. No competition is the same either. For example, there's a big Ag Expo in Bozeman every year with one of the largest mechanics competitions held every year, and it's similar but different from our district competition, which is also similar but different from the competition held in Conrad for Lewistown. So it depends on the day on who is going to do good and who isn't in the competitions."

With his experience in Big Sandy with Layne Taylor and his ag classes, he believes "kids should take his ag classes regardless of whether they are interested in ag or not. With every class he teaches, from 7th to 12th grade, Layne tries to cover a broad range of information every year and builds upon it as the students take more and more classes. For example, he starts by teaching the younger grades basic car maintenance. Like how to check your fluid levels and how to change a tire. Then, as the years go on in the higher grade levels, you learn how to change the oil in the car, check your battery and alternator systems, and more. Earlier this year, as a Junior, we learned how to do most residential wiring with a single pole and three-way switches. So even if you're not interested in working on a ranch or farm for the rest of your life, you gain valuable skills you will most likely need to know."

So now we know why FFA/ Vo-Ag is important to Severin. But what about taking the number one at Montana Honors Choir in Missoula? "Music is pretty important to me. When I haven't lost my headphones, they're almost constantly used. I'm almost always listening to music or a podcast when I'm at work, doing homework, lifting weights, or some other abstract task. It's almost a way to drown out the world for a little bit and concentrate on what I'm doing. I think I first joined the choir because many of the guys in my grade were in it or would be transferring into it. So I figured I might as well try it. As it turned out, I did enjoy it and have been in choir since then."

Congratulations, Severin. Well done.