Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:12:29 CDT
FFA members and supporters from across the country will celebrate agriculture and agricultural education next week during the 95h National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis.
This time-honored tradition, hosted by the city of Indianapolis, will be held Oct. 26-29.
More than 60,000 FFA members from the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands are expected to participate in the event. That includes over approximately 2,000 FFA members from the state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma FFA has a reputation of being right at the top when it comes to many of the events that will have FFA members from across the US competing for top honors. For example, Oklahoma is tied with Georgia in having the most Three Star Chapters that will be honored on the convention stage in Lucas Oil Stadium. Oklahoma and Georgia each will have 36 Chapters honored tghis week, followed by Missouri with 35. The three star rating is given only to the best of the Gold Emblem Chapters and up to ten percent of a state’s chapters can earn this award if they qualify. Click here for the Oklahoma list of high achievers that will be honored and/or are competing at this year’s convention- it includes the full list of our 36 top chapters.
In addition, Oklahoma has the third most 3 Star Permier Chapters this year- tied with Kansas in that catefory. Georgia has a total of 9 3 Star Premier Chapters while Ohio, Illinois and Flordia each have 7. The three OKlahoma Chapters in contention for a national champtionship include Meeker FFA, Miami FFA and Okmulgee FFA.
Oklahoma is in the top five in both the National Agriscience Fair and in the number of finalists in the Profiency Awards here in 2022. OKlahoma has the fifth most Agriscience Finalists- a total of 22. Georgia has the most finalists, followed by Texas, Ohio, California and Oklahoma.
Stars Over America
Oklahoma has one of the 16 national finalists in the Stars Over America competition in 2022- Emma Victery of Chickasha FFA is a Finalist in the Star in Ag Placement award.
Victery, a member of Chickasha FFA in Oklahoma, raises Black Angus cattle with her family. She started small in her youth, but now Emma is an irreplaceable part of the management and marketing on her family farm.
“The thing that makes me the most proud is my dad trusts me with my family’s operation, and he told me the only person that he would trust to take care of things while he’s gone,” Victery said. “He also values my opinion a lot when it comes to selecting bulls and making breeding decisions.”
Breeding cattle is something in which Victery has a particular interest. She took classes on artificial insemination in high school, and she’s currently enrolled at Eastern Oklahoma State College to major in animal science, pre-vet and ag communications.
Click here to see the four star finalists in Ag Placement- this link includes a video of Oklahoman Emma Victery.
National FFA Officer Candidate
One Oklahoma FFA member is in her second year of competing for a very special honor- Karstlyn Cantrell of Skiatook FFA is representing Oklahoma as a National FFA Officer candidate. Karstlyn will know Monday evening if she has advanced to the final selection process- the slate of 6 National Officers for 2022-2023 will be announced Saturday afternoon, October 29th. You can hear Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays’ conversation with Cantrell by clicking here.
National Speech Contests
Three Oklahoma FFA members are competing in the National Speech Contest this week- Hays has talked with all three and you can hear his conversations with them by clicking on their names-
Prepared Public Speech- Caleb Horne, Morrison FFA
Extemporaneous Speech- Kayla Poling, Silo FFA
Creed Presentation- Addyson Schneberger, Carnegie FFA (the story with Addyson wlll be posted Monday)
Many other FFA members will be involved in Career Development contests and 190 high achieving FFA members wll receive their American FFA degree on Saturday morning- here’s where you can get the complete rundown.
Learn more about the National FFA Convention by clicking here.
Learn More about the Oklahoma FFA by clicking here.
