On May 16, the South Rowan FFA held its annual awards banquet to recognize and reward outstanding FFA members and their achievements throughout the year.
FFA members were recognized for their success in career development events, proficiency awards, academics in agricultural classes and overall FFA participation. In addition, more than $11,000 in FFA Alumni scholarships were presented to graduating seniors or students attending FFA camps this summer.
North Carolina FFA President Carmen Honeycutt presented at the banquet, and an honorary chapter degree was awarded to Charles and Kim Starnes for their support of the chapter through the years.
The chapter’s 2014-15 officers were also installed at the banquet. They are: Alicia Barlow, president; Marion Smith, vice president; Laken Garney, secretary; Karrigan Brown, treasurer; Cheyenne Hunter, reporter and Miranda Belk, sentinel.
Earlier in May, South Rowan FFA members competed in career development events at the Southwest FFA Regional Rally held at the Union County Agriculture Center.
The Parliamentary Procedure team consisting of Haley Shore, Smith, Andrew Eller, Paige Manning, Heather Sperling and Miranda Belk were judged on their performance of parliamentary procedure abilities during a business meeting. This team placed first in the region and will compete at the state FFA convention in June.
Shore competed in the Prepared Public Speaking event, where she placed first in the region and will also continue on to the state competition.
The FFA creed speaker Garney placed fourth and will also be competing at the state FFA convention.
The agricultural mechanics team of T.J. Harrington, Jonathan Powers and Dakota Hubbard also placed fourth in the region, and the forestry team consisting of Joseph Linker, Joe O’Kelley, Thomas Starnes and Jeffrey Goodman placed sixth in the region.
In addition, students were recognized for their success at the regional level in their proficiency award areas. The following students were recognized at the regional rally in their respective proficiency areas: Shore, first place; Hubbard, first place; Nicole Mauldin, first place; MacKenzie Catanese, third place; Abigail Raffaldt, third place.
Goodnight was recognized as the first place regional winner in the State Star in Placement category. Shore, Hubbard, Mauldin and Goodnight will proceed to the state level competition in June.
Shore, the 2013-14 regional president presided over the regional rally and Smith was also installed as the 2014-15 Southwest region treasurer.
The South Rowan FFA will continue to be busy and productive during the summer months as we participate in the state FFA convention, FFA Camp, State Leadership Conference and additional leadership, community service and fundraising activities.