Warwick Valley FFA members shine at state convention

Warwick - On May 2nd, members of the Warwick Valley FFA boarded a bus early in the morning to attend the 82nd New York State FFA Convention in upstate Albion. Members of both the junior and senior chapters went to compete in several different contests. On the junior level, members competed in five different areas. The first was People in Agriculture, which requires members to make a poster with pictures related to a job in each of six different areas of agriculture and then write and present a one page job summary of one of the jobs on the poster. Elise Pennington placed second in the state in a very competitive contest. S he also placed third in the “Extemporaneous Public Speaking” category. This competition involved students selecting an agricultural topic and having 30 minutes to prepare a speech using their knowledge, experiences and materials collected prior to competition and presenting the speech to a panel of judges. Regina Blanco was a state finalist in Junior Prepared Public Speaking. Blanco presented a speech on an agriculture topic and presented it to a panel of judges. Two teams also participated in the Tool ID and Quiz Bowl competitions. The Quiz Bowl team won their first round of competition but lost in the second round to one to the top three teams that participated. Team members were Regina Blanco, Cristina Martin, Elise Pennington and Jennifer Sidoti. Senior members also participated in several career development events. The Marketing Plan team, which worked with Bellvale Creamery to create a flavor of ice cream that represented Warwick, placed first and will represent New York at the National FFA Convention this fall in Indianapolis. Members of the winning team include Steven DeBuck, Jessica Sidoti and Laura Walter. Bob Blanco will also be going to Indianapolis in the October. He placed first in extemporaneous public speaking, prepared public speaking and discussion meet categories. Blanco will compete in extemporaneous public speaking at the National FFA Convention. Warwick Valley FFA also fielded a food science team. Team members included Katie Brosnan, Jackie Geoghan, Maggie Smith, and Jessica Troxell. Two members of the chapter and their advisor were recognized for the work. Advisor Nancy Colgan received an Honorary Empire award for having two students as state officers this past year. Chris Thiessen was recognized for his year of service as State FFA reporter and delivered a motivational address before the 500 plus attendees of the convention. Daniel Geoghan was also recognized for his year of service as District 2 president and was elected to the position of State FFA Vice President for the 2007-2008 school year. Geoghan was also recognized as the District and State Star for the depth of his Empire Degree and will be competing for additional honors at the Eastern States Exposition in Massachusetts in September. Bob Blanco also received his Empire Degree at the convention. Several students were elected as Southeastern Subdistrict FFA officers including Maggie Smith, Katie Brosnan and Laura Walter. These three officers will be attending the Washington Leadership Conference in July. Also in attendance at the convention were member Tom Walter, who served as a voting delegate, and Kathy Sidoti and Debra Geoghan, who both served as chaperones.