Five FFA members will make their way to Columbia for state convention on April 25 and 26 to compete in the horse judging career development event and attend the 91st Missouri state convention festivities.

Junior Alexis Mantonya, sophomore Morgan Branson, and freshmen Sarah Johnson, and Jeremiah Johnson came in eighth place at district contest on April 2 in Warrensburg and qualified for state competition. Mantonya was fifth individual overall. There were 30 teams and 105 individuals in the contest.

Junior Kaitlyn Hawley will be joining the state team. She will receive a state proficiency award for dairy production and sophomore Morgan Branson will receive a state proficiency award for home and community development. Hawley raises dairy bottle calves and Branson is a junior volunteer firefighter.

“State convention is a positive experience for my students because they get to be among the top FFA members in the state and meet others who are passionate about agriculture,” said advisor Stan Adler.

Other teams also competed at the district CDE contest on April 2. The ag mechanics team (juniors Austin Rosser and Lerran Yoder), the entomology team (sophomores Emmaleigh Kowal, Austin Brazel and Zach Sharp), the poultry team (freshmen Blake Walker, Natalie Johnson, Gaven Cunningham and junior Cody Lock), the food science team (sophomores Kyleigh Hines, Derek Maddux, Dennis Harrison and Luke Rasberry), and the meats team (Alison Pool and Savannah Neth) all competed at the district level.

Warsaw FFA members also competed at the district level in leadership development contests. At the area contest on March 27, sophomore Ellie Wassman won third in Advanced Public Speaking to advance to the district contest. The FFA Knowledge team placed sixth and advanced to district competition as well. They included freshman Sarah Johnson, Parker Greigo and Dakota Steinhoff.
Before the area and district contests, Warsaw FFA members started their contest season by placing in events at Linn and Marshall.

The Food Science team came in first at the Linn contest on March 15 with sophomore Kyleigh Hines as the first high individual. Also on the team are sophomores Luke Rasberry, Derek Maddux and Dennis Harrison. The team also placed sixth at the Marshall FFA Alumni Contest Day on Saturday, March 23.

Sophomore Emmaleigh Kowal placed second in the public speaking contest at Marshall with sophomore Ellie Wassman following with a third-place finish.

The Entomology team placed fifth in the Linn contest with sophomore Emmaleigh Kowal as fourth highest individual score. The team also participated in the Marshall contest with sophomores Zach Sharp, Brendan Griffith and Jake Graham competing.

The Horse Judging team attended contests in Springfield on March 22 and Marshall on March 23, placing sixth in Marshall with members freshman Emily Fisher and sophomore Jared Thomas competing.

The Soils team placed sixth at Marshall with sophomores Dakota Macon, Austin Fox and Drake Dotson competing.

The Poultry Judging Team placed sixth at Marshall with junior Cody Lock, freshman Brea Jolliff and freshman Gaven Cunningham competing.

Junior Austin Rosser participated in the Ag Mechanics contest at Marshall and freshman James Kellner participated in the Dairy Foods contest.

Freshmen Dakota Steinhoff and Parker Griego participated in the FFA Knowledge contest at Linn and freshman Christopher Harrell participated in the Dairy Foods contest at Linn.