The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Big Sandy FFA attended the 94th annual Montana State convention the week of April 2nd through 6th in Billings. Our Ag program took 20 students to participate in the event and compete in various categories.

Mr. Taylor, who teaches Ag in Big Sandy, explained a little about the convention.

In addition to the competitions, students took advantage of learning opportunities and ag related experiences at the convention. "We brought 20 kids down, and they all enjoyed a great week. It was a week full of leadership workshops. We went on some great industry tours. We had competitions. They had a hypnotist show that they attended. It was a fun week"

Many of the Big Sandy students participated in state level FFA competitions. "We qualified at a district level in all kinds of events, which was fun. We had teams and livestock and horse judging. I had teams in mechanics, veterinary science, forestry. I had a prepared public speaker that qualified and presented. We had a 'conduct of meetings' is what it's called, but it's basically a junior parliamentary procedure, where they learned how to run it and demonstrate how to read different motions and conduct a meeting. It's kind of a mock meeting. And I did that with my ninth graders."

Several Big Sandy teams distinguished themselves in competition. In particular, the mechanics team distinguished itself after a good year for competitions. "We took first in several of the other big state events. I think we were fourth or fifth at John Deere Ag Expo last fall. This winter, there was a competition in Lewistown, and we took first in that. There's a big competition in Conrad, and we took first in that. So we were geared up to be one of the contenders to win in mechanics. We ended up taking 5th out of 61 teams, which is still very, very good." In particular, Severin Heimbigner placed sixth out of over 240 competitors in the mechanics competition. Severin also did really well individually in forestry. He took fourth in the state in the forestry competition." His fourth place position was out of 87 competitors.

"Six kids got their state FFA degree, which was probably the most I've seen it Big Sandy since I've been here." Big Sandy recipients included: Connor Sibra, Cooper Taylor, Kaden Pursley, Eli Dixon, Christian Winderl, and Samuel Cox. "In FFA, there's a series of degrees that kids can earn as they progress through their Ag experience. For each level of schooling, students can earn a different FFA degree by accomplishing certain requirements, learning FFA related materials, taking on projects, doing community service, and other related work. The highest degree that a student can earn is the state degree. One of Mr. Taylor's goals for students participating in FFA is that they earn their State degree. There is one additional level, the American degree, which requires work after high school and is the FFA equivalent of the Boy Scout's Eagle Scout award.

In addition to attending and competing, our local FFA chapter was represented by Big Sandy alumni Lance Rutledge. Lance served as one of the state officers this year. "He was a big part of the state convention: running sessions, putting on workshops and doing behind the scenes work. He also did his retiring officer address, which was awesome. It's fun to see one of our own on the stage leading. Hopefully it inspires our kids because that's something they grew up with and they see him in the spotlight."