Bringing home honors
RTR farm management team among those honored at FFA national convention
Photo by Deb Gau From left to right, RTR FFA members Locklin Matzner, Riley Van Eck, Chris Janish and Henry Serreyn placed first in the nation in the Farm and Agribusiness Management event at the FFA National Convention, held in Indianapolis last week. The team members were among several FFA students who brought home high honors from the convention.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Autumn LaBrune was awarded the American FFA Degree, the highest honor achievable by an FFA member.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Jiilian Schoenfeld was named national champion in the FFA Veterinary Science Proficiency.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma The RTR FFA Veterinary Science Team of Summer LaBrune, Jilian Schoenfeld, Madison Dwire and Sara Dwire earned a Silver Emblem at the FFA National Convention.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Brayden VanDyke earned a Bronze Emblem in the National FFA Creed Speaking Contest.
Photo by Deb Gau From left to right, RTR FFA members Locklin Matzner, Riley Van Eck, Chris Janish and Henry Serreyn placed first in the nation in the Farm and Agribusiness Management event at the FFA National Convention, held in Indianapolis last week. The team members were among several FFA students who brought home high honors from the convention.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Autumn LaBrune was awarded the American FFA Degree, the highest honor achievable by an FFA member.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Jiilian Schoenfeld was named national champion in the FFA Veterinary Science Proficiency.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma The RTR FFA Veterinary Science Team of Summer LaBrune, Jilian Schoenfeld, Madison Dwire and Sara Dwire earned a Silver Emblem at the FFA National Convention.
Photo courtesy of Jen Boersma RTR FFA member Brayden VanDyke earned a Bronze Emblem in the National FFA Creed Speaking Contest.
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TYLER -- Members of Russell-Tyler-Ruthton High School's FFA chapter had a warm welcome waiting for them this week after receiving national honors.
"After a seven-hour drive, we had fire trucks waiting for us," said Locklin Matzner, one of the members of RTR FFA's Farm and Agribusiness Management team, who placed first in the nation at the FFA national convention in Indianapolis last week. When the team arrived in Tyler, students were waiting to cheer them on and give high-fives.
The FFA program at RTR had a very strong year. Several students not only advanced to national competition in events at the convention, but they received high honors.
"I think it's been a pretty amazing season," said Farm and Agribusiness Management team member Henry Serreyn.
The team of Riley Van Eck, Chris Janish, Locklin Matzner and Henry Serreyn placed first in the Farm and Agribusiness Management Career Development Event. Van Eck also had the top individual score in the event, with all three of his teammates also placing highly.
Competing in the Farm and Agribusiness Management CDE and making it to the national convention was an exciting experience, team members said this week. However, it took a lot of preparation to get there.
Janish explained that the event involves analyzing financial documents for a farm, and responding to questions about them. At the national convention, event participants were looking at a year's worth of financial documentation for a randomly-chosen American farm.
"It's a four-and-a-half hour test, three (hours) of which is individual, and one-and-a-half is as a team," Janish said.
As a group, Serreyn said, "You get to be kind of like a board of consultants," giving recommendations on what the farmer should do.
Getting ready for competition involved working closely with their coach, Mike Boersma.
"A lot of our success goes to Mike Boersma," Janish said.
"He explained so much stuff, so well," Matzner said.
The team read financial statements, took practice tests, and even found some creative ways to use the financial concepts they would need for the competition.
"We played a lot of Monopoly," Janish said.
The team would take each turn around the Monopoly board as a fiscal year, and translate the monetary amounts from their game into balance sheet figures.
"All the numbers have a home somewhere on the balance sheet," Van Eck said.
Van Eck said the test at the national convention was "more difficult than any one we'd taken previously."
It was also stressful not knowing what your individual results were right away, he said.
Van Eck said it was a little overwhelming to learn just how well he did, as the top 10 highest scoring individuals were named. As names kept counting down from 10th place to first place, he said, "I was wondering, how did I manage to beat all these people?"
But Van Eck said he had "zero doubts" that the team would do well. All three of his teammates also ranked highly in individual scores, with Janish placing 12th and Matzner and Serreyn placing 16th and 17th.
Getting to come out of the individual portion of the CDE and work together was one of the best parts of the event, the boys said. Serreyn said it was helpful to have teammates to check your math, and the team said they each tended to have their own roles on the team.
"We work together amazing, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses," Janish said.
FFA advisor Jen Boersma said the four students also worked well together, and showed a real interest in the subject of agribusiness management.
"They were really good at asking the questions," to fill in gaps in their knowledge, she said of the team. "It really comes down to the kids being willing to commit, and work hard and set goals."
The Farm and Agribusiness Management team weren't the only high achievers at this year's national convention. RTR FFA member Jilian Schoenfeld was named the national winner in the Veterinary Science Agricultural Proficiency Awards. Schoenfeld earned top honors based on an application detailing her hands-on work at Western Veterinary Clinic. In a news release, Schoenfeld said she is "super grateful to the Western Veterinary staff for their support, education and all the opportunities they have helped with."
The RTR FFA Veterinary Science team of Summer LaBrune, Jilian Schoenfeld, Madison Dwire and Sara Dwire also earned a Silver Emblem at the national convention, ranking 18th overall out of 45 state-champion teams from around the country.
RTR FFA member Brayden VanDyke received Bronze Emblem honors in the national FFA Creed Speaking Contest. The event, which is for FFA members in grades 7-9, evaluates participants on their ability to memorize and recite the five-paragraph FFA Creed, and answer questions regarding the creed and agricultural concepts.
RTR FFA member Autumn LaBrune and FFA Advisor Jen Boersma also received high honors. LaBrune earned the American FFA Degree, the highest honor achievable by an FFA member. Boersma received the Honorary American FFA Degree in recognition of her leadership and dedication to ag education.