Hundreds of high school students flooded the Lamar Community College campus April 6, 2016, to participate in the FFA Career Development Day.  A record number of students participated in the event with over 700 students from 36 schools from across the state.  Students gained a wealth of experience in their areas of competition and the twelve high winners each received a $500 scholarship to LCC.

Students competed in a wide range of activities ranging from Ag Sales to Floriculture to Veterinary Science. 

The majority of the day was hosted throughout the LCC campus, centered largely in the Wellness Center.  Three events were held off-site including Ag Mechanics (Lamar High School), Land Classification (held in the field), and Livestock (Prowers County Fairgrounds). 

“It is always enjoyable to work with the ag departments and their students; they are a great group of young people,” remarked Greg Cash, the day’s coordinator.

The high winners for each contest will each receive a $500 scholarship to Lamar Community College.  The winners are Korbin Roehn (Fruita High School) for Ag Mechanics, Daisy Castillo (Stratton High School) for Crops, Sean Doherty (Kim High School) for Farm Business Management,  Erica Sinclair (Sangre De Cristo High School) for Land Classification, Carissa Cardenas (La Veta High School) for Meats, Kierra Smartt (McClave High School) for Floriculture, Jeanette Steerman (McClave High School) for Job Interview, Ashley McCay (La Veta  High School) for Livestock Judging, Alyssa Marino (Pueblo County High School) for Horse Judging, Keanna Bonella (Fruita High School) for Vet Science,  Shayla Claybrook (Wiley High School) for Ag Sales, and Gayle Boyd (Las Animas High School) for Milk Quality.

Teams were also ranked in each category.  Fruita placed first in Ag Mechanics, followed by Pritchett in second and Rocky Ford in third.  Stratton placed first in Crops followed by Cheyenne Wells in second and Sangre De Cristo in third. Stratton won the Farm Business Management category with Kit Carson coming in second and McClave in third.  Cheyenne Wells placed first in Land Classification with Sangre De Cristo and Stratton coming in second and third.  The Meats category was won by La Veta, with Hoehne in second and Custer County in third.  Fruita A won Vet Science followed by Fruita B in second and Burlington in third.  Fruita took first place in Floriculture followed by McClave in second and Hoehne in third.  The Horse Judging category was won by Pueblo with Fowler and Hoehne coming in second and third.  La Veta won Livestock judging followed by McClave in second and Fruita in third.  Milk Quality was won by La Veta with Fowler second and Kit Carson third.  And finally, Stratton won Ag Sales with Wiley in second and Burlington in third.  There were no team scores for the Job Interview category as it was an individual contest.

Hosting a contest of this size would not be possible without the help of many people.  Special thanks go out to Thoughts and Bloom in Lamar, John Ogden, Chris Wilkinson, Air Gas in Lamar, and many other individuals that donated hours of their time.