Ohio FFAer among

American Star award champs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — FFA members from Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia earned the most prestigious honor awarded to a student by the National FFA Organization at the 87th National FFA Convention & Expo in Louisville.

The American Star awards – including the American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience – are awarded to FFA members who demonstrate outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through completion of a supervised agricultural experience (SAE).

A required activity in FFA, an SAE allows students to learn by doing by either owning and operating an agricultural business, working or serving an internship at an agriculture-based business or conducting an agriculture-based scientific experiment and reporting results. The winners are:

•American Star in Agriscience: Sara Cox, Ohio (the Oct. 22 Farm World FFA Supplement has an interview with Cox)

•American Star Farmer: Zach, Weichel, Okla.

•American Star in Agribusiness: Dustin Stanton, Mo.

•American Star in Agricultural Placement: Jessica Woodworth, W.V.

Other requirements to achieve the award include demonstrating top management skills; completing key agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements; and earning an American FFA Degree, the organization’s highest level of student accomplishment.

Sixteen American Star award finalists from throughout the United States are nominated for a panel of judges to interview during convention. Four are named winners and receive cash awards totaling $4,000. All American Star finalists receive a $2,000 cash award.

The Star Over America Awards are sponsored by ADM Crop Risk Services, CASE IH, DuPont Pioneer, Elanco, Farm Credit and Syngenta as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

USPOULTRY recruits during

National FFA Convention

TUCKER, Ga. — At the recent National FFA Convention & Expo in Louisville, Ky., industry-led staff in the USPOULTRY Foundation Careers in Poultry booth talked with hundreds of students during the convention and passed out more than 2,000 career opportunity DVDs.

Representatives from Chore-Time Equipment, Cooper Farms, Farbest Foods, Perdue Farms, Pilgrim’s, Rose Acre Farms and Wayne Farms served in the booth during the event to discuss the exciting poultry industry career opportunities available to FFA members.

“USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation have long been supporters of FFA and 4-H, in addition to sponsoring college poultry judging contests. They actively encourage today’s youth to become involved in the poultry industry, and this was never more apparent than at the National FFA Convention and Expo,” remarked incoming USPOULTRY Foundation Chair Elton Maddox, of Wayne Farms in Oakwood, Ga.

In addition to receiving information about the career opportunities in the poultry industry, FFA members were able to participate in USPOULTRY Foundation’s “Wheel of Poultry” in the booth, a take on the popular game show “Wheel of Fortune,” which tested their knowledge of the poultry industry. Bailey Schwaberow and Abby Hissong received iPads for answering the most questions correctly.