Under the leadership of Advisor Kylee Urie, the Harlem Chapter of the FFA has been busy raising funds for their upcoming year in FFA. The membership held a chili cook-off on the evening of November 3 in the Harlem High School (HHS) lunchroom. At the event, judges named three winners: Janeisha Aguirre, Kylee Urie, and Katherine Windyboy.
In her first year as an FFA Advisor at HHS, Urie is eager to monitor the future of this chapter and to see her 83 current members excel. Officers for the Chapter are President Erik Snell, Vice President Katherine WindyBoy, Secretary Seth Ironchild, Treasurer Kaitlyn Johnson, Sentinel Thomas Champagne, and Reporter/Scrapbooker Jaden Flansburg.
About the recent fundraising event, she reported: “We have planned several local events as well as some state competition and conventions. This event helps boost our student’s money so we can get to go and participate in these events.”
To serve as judges, the FFA chapter officers selected four high school teachers: Jack Young (U.S. History/Government Teacher), Mary- Kate French (Art Instructor), James Kobeski (Family Consumer Science Teacher), and Matt Hodgson (English Instructor). Once their taste-testing was complete, these judges named three winners. First prize went to Janeisha Aguirre, who is currently an eighth grader at Harlem. Second prize was won by Urie herself, and third place was captured by Katherine Windyboy, a junior at HHS.
When asked which chili recipe was his favorite, Judge Young responded: “That’s tough. They were all good. I scored them differently, but at the moment I can’t say exactly which one was the best.”
The Harlem FFA Chapter has several competitions on their agenda for this year. They have already attended a contest in Chinook where members competed in livestock evaluation. According to Urie, ten students will travel to Bozeman this week, November 11-13, to compete in the Montana FFA Foundation’s Ag Expo, which is Montana FFA’s largest conference.
The Montana FFA Ag Expo is a three-day symposium where high school and middle school FFA members from across Montana gather to participate in competitive events, leadership workshops, and career training on the campus of Montana State University—Bozeman. Of the twenty-five competitive events offered, Harlem FFA members will participate in the Milk Quality and Products Contest, Livestock Evaluations, and Prepared Public Speaking.
On Thursday morning, contestants in the Milk Quality and Products Career Development Event (CDE) will demonstrate their knowledge about the quality production, processing, distribution, promotion, and marketing of milk and dairy foods.
Livestock contests are scheduled for Friday, November 12, and speaking contest finals will take place on Saturday, November 13 in Bozeman.