Mud, rain, wind─and a whole lot of dirt. That pretty well sums up the month of October for the North Lake FFA Chapter. Four weeks of collecting soil samples, poking around in soil pits after school, and dozens of hours of class time studying math formulas and scientific principles have prepared students to be competitive at demonstrating their knowledge and skills of soil science at both the District and the State level.
The North Lake FFA Soils teams dominated the District Career Development Event (CDE) at Crook County, outperforming the competition in both the advanced and beginning contests. Team scores in the Advanced Contest were: North Lake = 399, Sherman County = 393, Culver = 372. Team scores in the Beginning Contest were: North Lake = 415 points, Madras = 374, Culver 363.
On October 13th, nine students from North Lake School packed their bags and headed out to participate in the 2008 State FFA Soils Career Development Event. Over 28 teams from the various 119 Oregon FFA Chapters qualified and attended the contest. The advanced team, consisting of Joe Carlon, Andre Borlak, Avery Overton and Shayne Dinger placed fifth. With their two second place State finishes the previous years, they were able to make the cut for the chance to represent the State of Oregon at the National Soils Career Development Event in Oklahoma City.
The Novice team placed first in the Beginning Contest, and had the third highest score of all teams in the competition. Daniel Miles had the second highest individual score of all competitors. Other members of the team were, Felicia Bias, Kody Worthington, Adam Henkel and Kourtney Worthington.
The results of the Advanced CDE: Culver ─ 352 points, Sutherlin ─ 347, Bonanza ─ 338 points, Hermiston ─ 338 points, North Lake ─ 335 points.
The results of the Beginning CDE: North Lake ─ 340 points, Culver ─ 335 points, Hermiston ─ 323 points, Bonanza ─ 306 points.
Working the Pits: Students worked hard and spent hours practicing before the contest: Kourtney Worthing, Felicia Bias, Shayne Dinger, Adam Henkel, Kody Worthington, Andre Borlak, Avery Overton.
Kourtney Worthington and Shayne Dinger prepare for the State Contest.
