A successful school year for the Prairie Central FFA, which began with the National FFA Convention last fall, was capped by a fundraising tradition in Fairbury Thursday night.
PCHS agriculture instructor and FFA advisor Kyle Miller considers this a tremendous year for the group which ended up having six of seven teams in the national top five, with the Ag Sales team named national champions.
“After that, we’ve just had a terrific year as far as state winning teams, Miller said. “So far, we’ve got four more that are qualified for next year.”
A nice crowd was on hand for the hog roast and auction, which dates back to the 1980s.
“It’s been a longstanding tradition and kind of just a fun thing for the community to come out and do,” added Miller.
Six hogs and 15 turkeys were donated to the chapter and the free meal was served in the cafeteria prior to the live auction in the nearby gym. Teacher and student preparations have been happening for several months.
“We started cooking at 7 this morning and just finished pulling things off around 4:30,” ag teacher Kole Stadt said.
“Doing this auction has been really fun – just getting out to the different businesses, talking to people and getting the items in has been really amazing,” admits chapter parliamentarian and PCHS senior Paul Leman.
What does it take to have such a successful program at Prairie Central? Support from the school, community members, volunteers and alumni would be a start.
“Part of the success is just the dedication of our students,” said ag teacher Becky Freed.
“They are very bright, talented and willing to put in the long hours of hard work that it takes to be successful.”
The students are looking forward to spring break but still have plenty to do this spring such as dairy judging practice, CDE’s, senior awards and officer elections. The state FFA convention will kick off a summer full of activities as well.
Prairie Central FFA members agree that this has been a great year for the entire chapter. Ashlyn Kratochvil is on the state winning dairy products team which will go to nationals in the fall. She is also part of the dairy judging team that will compete at state April 5. They won the section contest this week.
“We are looking forward to keep practicing and getting ready for April 5,” Kratochvil said.
Several members are preparing for the ag mechanics contest April 17 which includes electricity, power, surveying and construction.
“I’m doing the construction part of the contest. We are getting pretty excited about that,” stated chapter treasurer Chase Leman.
