We Are the Champions!
Jul 22, 2020 12:00AM ● By By Seti Long
Ag Cooperative Marketing Team State Champions Left to Right: Lauren Kelly, Nolan Britten, Mr. Reed - Ag Instructor, Hannah Grover, Brenden Johnson. Not pictured: Alexsandra Perez-Ibarra. Photo provided by Matthew Reed
GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – Gridley High School’s FFA department cleaned house at this year’s California State FFA Championships.
Typically, FFA students travel to Anaheim, Calif. to compete with their peers from across the state in multiple categories, but thanks to COVID-19, the 2020 State finals were completely virtual. Competition events were scheduled throughout the summer instead of a 3-day block and instead of a large awards ceremony, awards were received via mail.
According to AG instructor, Matthew Reed, “All these teams worked really, really hard,” but that the virtual aspect of the competition had an impact on his students. “A lot of our kids are juniors and seniors on our most competitive teams and I think in their heads, this was the year they were going to come out and do some amazing stuff at the actual event (competition). And so when the year got cut short, it took a little bit of motivation on everyone’s part to kind of stay excited about doing these contests.”
Regardless, Gridley FFA students performed exceptionally, teams taking 5th place in Livestock, 3rd place in Ag Sales, 2nd in Floriculture and the Ag cooperative Marketing was named State Champion. Reed says his students are amazing, “They did their darndest to make good of what this situation is right now with COVID19.”
It is unfortunate these amazing FFA students did not get to be recognized on stage in front of thousands of other FFA members, but some traditions will endure - like the Ag Cooperative Marketing team eating ice cream out of their State Champion Bowl trophy. “We will be doing that sometime later this year,” says Reed.
Not only did the FFA students do well, but Gridley’s FFA Teaching staff had two teachers awarded the Silver Award at this year’s virtual California Ag Teachers Association summer conference. Ag instructors Mr. Reed and Ms. Jenny Kaslin received the award recognizing teachers who have inspired former students to pursue careers in Ag education. The Silver Award designates that each teachers has 3-4 former students that are now teaching.
What an outstanding year for Gridley FFA Students and Teachers!
