At the end of her Ag Sales Presentation, South Central District FFA Nellie Hill, a Senior at Centre High School, member shakes the hand of her judge, Julie Kramp, left, Barton’s executive director of Workforce Training and Economic Development, during the Ag Sales Career Development Event hosted by Barton’s Agriculture Program on March 31.

For more information, contact Steve Pottorff, 620-792-9207.

April 8, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

Barton Hosts South District FFA for Ag Career Development Event

Barton County Community College’s Agriculture Program hosted FFA members from six high school chapters for the 19th annual FFA South Central District Ag Sales and Service Contest March 31. High schools participating included Great Bend, Ellinwood, Stafford, Centre, South Barber and South Haven.

The students competed in written tests over problems regarding agricultural economics and business economics. In addition, some students made sales presentations on product ideas they had developed and did practicums on order taking and customer service. Judges for the presentations were owners of various area ag-related businesses and Barton faculty members.
In the FFA district Ag Sales Contest, placing first with a score of 703 was the Centre-A team composed of Nellie Hill, Kristine Jirak, Julie Rziha and Amy Hajek. The Stafford team placed second scoring 663 with team members Erica Meyer, Sarah Wilt, Alisa Wendelburg and Jordan Hildebrand. Great Bend with team members Zach Bauman, J.J. Meier and Matt Haberman placed third, score 378.

Top five individual winners in the district Ag Sales Contest were Nellie Hill, Centre-A, first; Kristine Jirak, Centre-A, second; Jordan Hildebrand, Stafford, third; Sarah Wilt, Stafford, fourth; and Julie Rziha, Center-A, fifth.

In the general Ag Sales Career Development Event, first place went to Centre-B team composed of Brian Burhoop, Tyler Klenda, Ben Baker and Cole Svoboda, with a score of 601. Second place went to Centre-C team composed of Adam Matz, Amanda Floyd, Tori Marler and Ripley Howard, with a score of 524. In third place was Centre-D with team members Katie Remy and Casey Kristek, scoring 299, and in fifth place was Stafford-B team with Mckenzie Gee scoring 158.

Top five individual winners were Cole Svoboda, Centre-B, first; Tyler Klenda, Centre B, second; McKenzie Gee, Stafford-B, third; Katie Remy, Centre-D, fourth; and Casey Kristek, Centre-D, fifth.
In the FFA district Farm Management event, winners were: Centre, first, score 388, with team members Nick Cole, Andy Carlson, Ethan Forsberg and Julie Rziha; South Barber, second, score 364, with team members Jordan Sterling, Holly Gerber, Casey Pennock and Lisa Yearout; Ellinwood, third, score 324, with Eric Blakesley, Adam Unruh, Scott Stickney and Josh DeWerff; South Haven, fourth, score 316, with Nicole Church, Alicia Rayl, Jake Davidson and Megan Berry; and Stafford, fifth, score 290, with Jordan Hildebrand, Sarah Wilt and Alisa Wendelburg.

For the general Farm Management Career Development Event, Centre took first place, scoring 388, with Nick Cole, Andy Carlson, Ethan Forsberg and Julie Rziha; South Barber, second, scoring 364, with Jordan Sterling, Holly Gerber, Casey Pennock and Lisa Yearout; South Barber-2, third, scoring 348, with Samantha VanRanken, Calli Mathews, Melanie Fritts and Kyle Jacobs; Ellinwood, fourth, scoring 324, with Eric Blakesley, Adam Unruh, Scott Stickney and Josh DeWerff; South Haven, fifth, scoring 316, with Nicole Church, Alicia Rayl, Jake Davidson and Megan Berry; Stafford, sixth, scoring 290, with Jordan Hildebrand, Sarah Witt and Alisa Wendelburg; and South Haven-2, seventh, scoring 222, with Wade Heberly, Wes Scott and Kalen Fitch.

Individuals placing in the top five of the Farm Management event were Julie Rziha, Centre, first; Lisa Yearout, South Barber, second; Alicia Rayl, South Haven, third; Kristine Jirak, Centre, fourth; and Jordan Sterling, South Barber, fifth.

Barton’s Ag Sales and Service event is one of 24 career development areas sponsored by the FFA organization. Those events are warm-ups for the state contest held in May.