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Cloverdale FFA takes 4th at national competition
CLOVERDALE -- The FFA of Cloverdale High School placed fourth in the Livestock Quiz Bowl at the National Western Round Up competition in Denver Jan. 7 - 10.
The team -- Treasurer Taylor Goss, Josiah Mann, Drew Boyette and Kirsten Morris -- demonstrated its knowledge of livestock in a three-phase contest that pitted them one-on-one, team-on-team and then a buzzer round of 16 questions. It was the first time Cloverdale had made it to nationals, and they were one of two teams from Indiana to place.
"I was extremely nervous," Boyette said. "I was excited once I got there, but when it came to the contest I was really nervous."
Rachel Sutherlin and Mariah Huge, team members from the previous year, were also there with advice and support.
Preparing for this event meant reviewing basic livestock knowledge and reading up on livestock current events in bi-weekly practices that could last several hours. Advisor Callie Edie explained that the state and national competition are somewhat different, "so we had to change gears. This contest was a lot of memorization, stuff that some of the kids already knew and some didn't. Some had to prepare more than others."
It also took some fundraising to get them there, with a seed sale that raised $16,000 for the team.
"There was a lot of planning for the seed sale, getting donors," Goss said, "and we had to send out invitations to get people to come by."
But all their hard work paid off, and being No. 4 in the nation for livestock know-how was not the only good part about the trip to Denver.
"Drew's reaction on the plane because he had never flown, it was the best thing ever" Goss said. "But mainly the memories made going out there, and the people we met. We had a balcony at our hotel, and the mountains were off our balcony."
Mountains weren't all they got to see. When they weren't competing, the students visited a local feedlot, the National Western Stock Show and the world's largest model train museum.
"We went out there to compete," Edie said, "but it wasn't just about that. It was about the experience because a lot of these kids would never go to Colorado for anything else so it was an experience for them."
The team also went to dances and ice skating. "Me and the ice met a lot," Boyette admitted with a sheepish smile.
While Boyette has his sights set on making it back to nationals with livestock judging, Edie cautioned that they should focus on placing well at the second Skill-a-Thon competition at Indianapolis in October.
"A lot of kids don't realize the opportunities there are with FFA," she said. "You get to go and do things and see a lot."
The Cloverdale FFA's Clovers, Cops and Christmas toy drive was also recognized by Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz in a statement released Christmas Eve.
"America's grateful and generous spirit is still very much alive throughout our cities and towns," Cruz said. "To take one example, in Cloverdale, Ind. the police department partnered with high school FFA students to host a Christmas celebration, providing gifts to more than 600 children and serving meals to 146 families. These are just a few of the countless acts of charity in our midst."
The Cloverdale FFA will be hosting the event again this year at the C Bar C.