From left, Rich Latimer, John Rogalo, Donald Carpenter and Greg Shambo won at first place at the state FFA competition. They teens will advance to the national competition in Indianapolis in October.
Environmental Conservation and Forestry students from the F. Donald Myers and Southern Adirondack education centers earned top spots at the 92nd New York State FFA Convention and competition at SUNY Morrisville.
The F. Donald Myers Education Center team, Rich Latimer of Stillwater, John Rogalo of Mechanicville, Donald Carpenter and Greg Shambo both of Warrensburg won first place during the May competition. They will advance to the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis in October.
The Southern Adirondack Education Center teams earned second and third place in the state competition.
The Forestry CDE is a competitive event that tests students’ skills and knowledge in the area of forest management. Event components include a general forest knowledge exam, tree identification, timber cruising, tree/forest disorder identification, a chainsaw practicum, forestry issues interview and team activities.
The convention drew more than 1,500 FFA members from across the state. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America and is an intracurriculum student organization whose mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
Seven CTE students also ranked in the top 10 individually in the state. The students earning that honor are: Andrew Hanaburg of North Warren was ranked number one, Carpenter, 2nd; Latimer, 4th; Shambo, 5th; Rogalo, 6th; Matthew Agard of North Warren 7th and Aaron Dorr of Granville ranked 8th.
Dennis Flynn and Sherri Slater are Environmental Conservation and Forestry program instructors – Flynn at the F. Donald Myers Education Center, and Slater at the Southern Adirondack Education Center.
“We could not be prouder of our students,” said Flynn. “In the past three years, Sherri’s students took first place in the individual Forestry CDE. In the past 4 years, CTE has had the top Forestry CDE team – the F. Donald Myers Education Center in 2014, 2015 and 2017 and the Southern Adirondack Education Center in 2016.”
More information on FFA is available at http://www.ffa.org/