Kimball FFA brought home second place in prepared public speaking and third place in poultry judging after from the state convention held from Sunday to Tuesday, April 27-29. KAHS sophomore Jamie Hanson won second place in the prepared public speaking event. To compete in this event, Hanson had to prepare a manuscript on a certain topic. She chose ANWAR-Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge as her topic. Hanson took the stance that this area should be left as a natural wildlife preserve and not be drilled for oil. In her speech, Hanson tried to persuade the audience on her stance. After presenting her speech, judges asked Hanson questions. Hanson provided input on other energy sources that could be used so national preserves would not have to be destroyed. “I think that this sets a negative precedence that would last a long time,” said Hanson. Judges also asked her how she felt about the Alaskan people who were in favor of drilling for oil in ANWAR, since they get a cutback of the profits. “I was mad,” said Hanson. “I couldn’t believe that these people don’t care about their natural resources.” Hanson’s arguments were solid and convincing enough to earn her second place in the state. Thoroughly enjoying the experience, Hanson hopes to participate in the event again next year. “I learned so much through the year; it was fun to investigate and research this topic.” The event taught Hanson how to present an argument and take others’ views into account. “You really have to be firm in your belief,” said Hanson. The ANWAR research will help Hanson in her future pursuits of becoming a wildlife biologist. Hanson said that she would like to work as a manager of a wildlife preserve, perhaps in a different country. “I am very much an environmentalist,” said Hanson. “I would like to bring up the importance of wildlife preserves in other countries than America to make it a world view.” No ducks in poultry Kimball FFA’s poultry team consisted of four sophomores: Amelia Hentges, Brandi Schiefelbein, Erich Deutsch and Diana Donnay. They decided to participate in poultry judging because “Diana wanted to do ducks,” said teammate Hentges. Unfortunately, their are no ducks in FFA competitions. Hentges continued, “The closest thing we could do was chickens and poultry.” This year, the team set a goal to beat their biggest rival – Wabasso, who took first place at regions last year and sixth place overall. The team accomplished this goal and took home third place in the state event. During the poultry competition, individual teammates had to work separately to judge different areas of poultry. Each team member checked live chickens for agricultural quality. The team also checked carcasses (birds purchased at a grocery stores) for the quality of meat. Then, the team had to determine the grade of individual eggs and rank cartons of eggs from best to worst. The whole process took the team about an hour-and-a-half to complete. Individual scores were recorded and combined for an overall ranking. Kimball poultry obtained 1,276 points which gave them third place among the 34 teams that competed. Donnay pointed out that many FFA members are involved with Career Development Experiences (CDE) like poultry judging. The team credited much of their success to their advisor Mr. Shawn Meyer. “I think that he was more excited than we were when we won third place,” said Schielfelbein. “He is such a good advisor that gets us into [our events].” The team plans on competing in poultry judging again next year. Teammates said they have already set their goal – “to win state.”
