FFA members bring home state awards

Hot Springs County High School's FFA program recently attended their State event in Cheyenne.

One of the highlights of the trip was the "booth contest" which the team won through a combination of excellent presentation and a little help from hand-held technology.

FFA member Jeffrey VanAntwerp created a Wyoming trivia quiz with an interactive program that was then plugged into a TV in the booth. Those passing by could access the program via their smart phones and play along. Strite Daniels, Keegan Robbins and Chandler Maddock also explained how Wyoming agriculture impacts not only the nation but the world.

By winning, the team now gets to take their booth to the National FFA competition in Indianapolis in October.

Another highlight was Jessie Pennoyer winning the Gold Proficiency Award for Beef Production Entrepreneurship. By winning on the state level, Pennoyer will move on to the Regional event with the possibility of going to the National competition as well. She will receive $250 from National FFA with the possibility of more award monies if she is selected as the National FFA Region 1 representative.

Other events included the sales competition with Maggie Jones scoring 95 individually and 48 on the written exam. Chandler Maddock scored 68 with a 56 on the written, Kaitlyn Schmuck scored 110 and 44 on the written and Keegan Robbins scored 134 with 64 on the written exam.

This gave the team 719 total points in sales, ranking them at number 20.

In Environmental and Natural Resources, the team of Riley Shaffer, Blake Williams, Jason Clouse and Jeffery VanAntwerp scored a total of 840 points, placing them 16th out of 30.

The meats team of Keegan Robbins, Eric Bleak and Shaffer scored 1276.5 points to put them 13th of 30 teams.

Individually, Robbins scored 480 points; Bleak, 406.5 and Shaffer, 390.

The Quizbowl was another good event for the team, ranking 16th of 30 overall.

Williams recorded 90 points; Bleak, 82; Shaffer, 72 and Clouse, 72 for a total of 316.

The Livestock team included Pennoyer, Strite Daniels, Dreama Thorpe and Barbara Kissel. They ended their State run in 27th place out of 40 teams.

In the beef competition, Daniels scored 276; Pennoyer, 252; Thorpe, 251 and Kissel, 241.

For sheep/goat, Kissel scored 167; Pennoyer, 144; Daniels, 140 and Thorpe, 126.

In swine it was Pennoyer with 189; Kissel, 189; Daniels, 155 and Thorpe, 131.

With female selection, Daniels brought 143 points; Pennoyer, 143; Kissel, 130 and Thorpe, 96.

Individually, overall, Kissel was ranked at 72, Pennoyer at 84, Daniels at 107 and Thorpe at 140.