NHS students win state awards

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Though high school spring activities were cancelled for the most part, two Newcastle High School organizations were able to compete — online and virtually — in their culminating events. The NHS Saddle and Sirloin FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter, as well as the NHS FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) organization each had students who not only participated in the online State event, but brought home some hardware for their efforts.
Several students achieved honors in FFA. Jayme Cass, Sara Sweet, Dylon Tidyman and Davin Tysdal were each awarded their State Degrees after putting in a great deal of hard work over the course of their four years of membership. 
“Earning your state degree is a huge honor, and earning it means that they are career ready,” began head sponsor Taylor Rieniets. “Only 7% of seniors leaving FFA actually receive their degree, so the fact that these four were able to do that is great.”
Indeed the degree is not simply a participation award. In order to achieve it, a student must fulfill three to four years of FFA, but it is difficult to accomplish in just three. They must have earned their Green Hand in their freshman year and their Chapter Degree in their sophomore or junior year. 
They must have earned either $4,000 or 4,000 hours in their Supervised Agricultural Experience project. They need to have done speeches, held leadership roles and have contributed a set number of hours of community service. They also need to have competed in a set number of places, not just locally, and they need to have been active in at least five above the chapter level. 
Throughout their years of membership in FFA, the students create and maintain record books of all of their achievements so achieving the State Degree is not for the faint of heart. 
Cass was also awarded Gold in her Proficiency area of her SAE, and in doing so won $250 and had her application sent on to the national level. If it is accepted there, she will be able to compete at the highest level as well.
Tidyman was awarded the Agribusiness State Star Award which is very prestigious (see sidebar), and Peyton Crinklaw won Gold at the State Agriscience Fair with her project. Crinklaw was also recognized as a Regional Champion Speaker, and would have been able to compete at the state level if that competition had been held.
The Newcastle Saddle and Sirloin Chapter was also awarded their very first Three Star Award, which is the highest award a chapter can win. The chapter officers submitted their POA (Program of Activities) which lists everything the chapter does, linked to specific areas. In order to do this, they filled out a 20-30 page document which was judged, and then awarded stars with three being the highest. 
Rieniets’ members also got a chapter award for being innovative in their chapter activities which was awarded based on their Nebraska Relief Project where they went to Nebraska to help with clean up after the flooding.
“It was a really good year for us,” Rieniets smiled. “We won the video contest as well, which is also a first for the chapter. The kids created a video during Agvocacy week, and they were judged on how well the video followed the theme established and how innovative they were with advocating for agriculture. It’s something corny but we like to be corny and we are proud of the little things.”
State FBLA was scheduled to take place on March 18, however the Coronavirus had shut down all activities just the week before so the in-person State Leadership contest was cancelled and everything was conducted online or via Zoom. 
“It was a struggle,” sighed head sponsor Alysha Engle. “I ended up withdrawing most of my kids because they didn’t want to present/compete in that manner. But it really is too bad because we had some pretty awesome projects that would have done well and we probably would have had 19 or so qualify for Nationals.” 
Unfortunately, some of the events were online team tests that would normally then advance to in-person presentations/competitions. However, according to Engle, the FBLA director elected to take their online team test scores and just place them according to those scores in some events. 
“In the Community Service division, the kids submit a 15-page report which is graded and when they get to state
they do a seven minute
presentation,” Engle explained. “The presenters are color coordinated, and they match their PowerPoint and report. They have their presentations memorized and are very rehearsed. We always get a 98% in our presentations and they average that with the report, so we always win because of our
presentations.”
Despite being unable to put their best feet forward with their presentations, there were still some who placed at the State competition and there were even some National Qualifiers.
In Entrepreneurship, the team of Grayson Ramsey, Gunner Ramsey and Christian Santos placed third, while Sierra Checketts placed fourth in Job Interview. The team of Grace Coy, Dylon Tidyman and Davin Tysdal were fourth in Management Decision Making, and Peyton Tystad, Zach Purviance and Taten Engle were third with their Partnership with a Business Project.
All of these state placers earned a trip to the National Conference, however, as it will also be conducted with the same format as the State contest — through electronic submissions and Zoom meetings — only Checketts has elected to compete.
“The Job Interview category is one that still works pretty well with the online and Zoom format, so we submitted her resume and her employment materials and she will have another Zoom interview during Nationals the third week of June,” Engle nodded. “As for the others who had presentations, they just really didn’t want to compete that way, and I really don’t blame them since it is in the presentation that we always excel.”
Among those that the students were working on, there were some potentially strong projects this year, so the fact that the format was not conducive to show off presentation skills was disappointing for Engle and the students. 
Some of the students had conducted a reality fair with the NES fifth graders early in the year as part of their American Enterprise Project. Madi Pearson, Luke Harris and Ally Cass worked on it with Pearson and Harris putting together a big report and they had everything together ready to present. 
“They had all the visuals and they were planning a simulation with the judges and they were just so disappointed to be unable to follow through with their presentation,” Engle sighed. “It was such a good project and they worked very hard on it, so I felt very bad for them.”
 
Tidyman shines 
as a State Star
Dylon Tidyman made the most of his career in FFA this year, being awarded the State Star in Agribusiness this spring meaning that across the state of Wyoming he is the Best of the Best.
“The Star Award is a very prestigious honor within the FFA organization,” head sponsor Taylor Rieniets smiled. “We take a great deal of pride with this because it shows that these students are prepared to go out into the world with a marketable skill and it is one of the highest honors you can achieve in FFA.”.
For Tidyman’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), he used his business Beaver Creek Woodworking as his project. Last year, he was awarded a Proficiency for his SAE which he then segued into his Star Award this year.
“The work I did last year helped me a great deal,” Tidyman began. “I almost had all of my writing and paperwork done because of it.”
To earn this honor, Tidyman kept records of his sales as well as journaled what he did for the business. In the journal, he documented his orders and what he did to fulfill those as well as all other business related activities he employed.
“Since I kept pretty good records and since my business was interesting enough, I was nominated for the award,” Tidyman smiled.
Tidyman had to prove that what he submitted in his application was valid and as part of that process, he was visited by two state officers.
“They came out and looked at my laser and my wood-working equipment just to see if I really had them,” he chuckled. “Proving that my business is actually a real thing was key to winning the award.”
Being the state winner in the Agribusiness category qualifies Tidyman for the National contest in that division, and if his application is selected, he will be able to compete at that level.
“I want to thank Ms. Rieniets because she was a big part of overseeing my entries,” Tidyman began. “Without her, I probably wouldn’t have been able to win the award.”