Harlan FFA participates in Southwest Iowa District Leadership Conference, earns top state awards

DENISON —Harlan FFA members competed in various Leadership Career Development Events at the Southwest Iowa District FFA Leadership Conference held at Denison High School Saturday, March 7. Members also participated in Sub-district FFA Contests at Missouri Valley High School on Wednesday, February 11th, most qualifying for the district event. On Friday, January 30th, a district review night of Iowa FFA Degrees and district officer interviews were held at the IWCC Atlantic location. The results for these events are as follows.
Iowa FFA Degree Candidates:
The Harlan FFA Chapter is excited that four members have cleared the first hurdle in an effort to earn their Iowa FFA Degree. Lane Larsen, Bristol Loudy, Ashley Tunender, Jaeda Youngkin will represent the Harlan FFA as Iowa FFA Degree candidates this year. The Iowa FFA Degree is the highest award bestowed by the Iowa FFA Association and is a culmination of 3-4 years of work each member has invested in the FFA on the local, district, and state levels and record keeping over their Supervised Agricultural Experience projects. Members obtaining this degree must meet criteria for work experience hours/earnings, maintain a quality scholastic record, have 25 documented hours of community service, and participate in local FFA activities and FFA activities above the local level. They will receive their degree at the state convention in April.
FFA Academic Achievement Awards:
Six members were recognized for the Iowa FFA Academic Achievement Award. Senior members receiving this award must be a member for at least 3 years, maintain a quality Supervised Agricultural Experience and earn a 3.5 or better cumulative GPA in high school. Mikayla Jensen, Harrison Kjergaard, Cheyenne Obrecht, Grant Petersen, Levi Schechinger, and Jake Wageman were the recipients this year.
Officer Book Results:
Each year the Harlan FFA reporters and secretaries prepare record keeping entries for the district career development event contest. The Harlan FFA reporters, Edie Mae Kaufmann and Ashley Tunender, prepared the chapter scrapbook, which received 1st place with a gold rating, qualifying for state. The Harlan FFA secretaries, Sienna Michels and Bristol Loudy, earned a silver rating for the secretary’s book, which included meeting attendance, agendas, minutes, and a record of chapter correspondence.
Southwest District Career
Development Event Results:
The Conduct of Meetings team consisting of McKenna Wohlhutter, Charlee Doerr, Easton Lynch, Josie Daniels, Stephanie Lopez, Phoenix Brewer, Carly Christensen earned 1st place and a gold rating at the subdistrict level, qualifying for the district competition. At the district competition, they placed 2nd with a gold rating, qualifying for state. This event focuses on opening and closing ceremonies of an FFA meeting and basic parliamentary procedure abilities.
Edie Mae Kaufmann, Ashley Tunender and Zoe Wicker earned 2nd place and a gold rating in the Chapter Program of Activities Contest at the subdistrict level, qualifying for the district competition. At the district competition they earned 3rd place with a gold rating, being designated the alternate team to state. The group created a presentation of the program of activities of our chapter, including statistics and photos to support chapter participation.
The Experience the Action team consisting of presenters Brylee Dotzler, Emma Zaiger, Bella Bissen, Kienna Wilwerding, Hailey Strom earned a gold rating and was designated as the alternate to state. They were able to entertain the judges with their creative presentation that can be used to recruit future FFA members. 
The Ag Career and Science Investigation contest is designed for middle school FFA members. The team of Maggie Peteresen, Zoey Olson, Kenadi Dunn and Josie Zimmerman earned a silver rating. The scenario tasked to the participants this year was growing food on Mars. The team made and researched plans and agricultural careers suitable to complete the mission. 
Dominic Scherder earned 2nd place and a gold rating in the Ag Broadcasting contest at the subdistrict level, qualifying for the district competition. At the district competition, he earned a bronze rating. This contest consists of giving a five-minute radio broadcast about agriculture news topics and markets.
Briar Behrens earned a 3rd place, gold rating at the subdistrict level and advanced to districts in the FFA Creed Speaking Contest. At the district competition she earned a silver rating. The FFA Creed is a five-paragraph statement on the beliefs of the FFA. At the district competition, Kaufmann earned a silver rating for her efforts.
Logan Strom competed in the arc welding competition at the subdistrict and district level. He earned a silver rating for his efforts. 
The Ag Issues team consisting of Grant Gaul, Jackson Ahrenholtz, Will Schmitz and Caleb Ernst earned a bronze rating for their efforts. They discussed an agricultural issue in a public forum type format for judges to observe. 
At the subdistrict competition, two students competed, but did not move on to the district competition. Ethan Schmitz participated in the Job Interview competition earning a silver rating for his efforts. The competition featured a mock interview, resume building, and cover letter writing. Lane Larsen competed in the Ag Sales competition earning a bronze rating for his efforts in selling an agricultural product to a judge. 
We had several students take various levels of FFA knowledge quizzes. The following students earned gold ratings at the subdistrict level: 
Discovery Quiz (for middle schoolers): Maya Boettger, Brody Nihsen, Maggie Petersen, Josie Zimmerman, Kenadi Dunn, Halle Shields, Uriah Welsh, Blakely Fatka, Grahm Schechinger, Clara Schmitz, Brooklynn Kenkel, Tyler Welsh, Lauren Obrecht, Joey Holloway, Brynn Schumacher, Kolton Jensen, Dylan Taylor, Wyatt Reisz, Nolan Taylor, Zoey Olson, Leo Schaben, Braelyn Dahir, Trinity Haas, Gavin Herbst, Hunter Kenkel, Brooklyn Hess, Kinley Eck, Breckyn Manz
Greenhand Quiz (1st year high school): Stephanie Lopez, Barbara Torres, Easton Lynch, Meredith Mulligan, Briar Behrens, Carly Christensen, McKenna Wohlhutter, Josie Daniels
Chapter Quiz (advanced knowledge): Edie Mae Kaufmann, Brylee Dotzler, Jack Zimmerman, Henry Schaben
Lane Larsen and Kinsleigh Chadwick served as voting delegates for the district convention.
The Iowa State FFA Leadership Conference is April 19-21.