FFA breaks national record 

FFA's Food Science and Technology Team set a groundbreaking record in October at the 2022 National FFA Convention, held in Indianapolis.

The National Convention is where all state champions come to compete. This team won the state competition last fall.

The all-star team of juniors Mallory Cline, Olivia Jenkins, Haylie McComas, and Landon Sewell faced 38 of these teams and finished second place in the nation, earning a GOLD rating.

McComas revealed, “I was pretty nervous preparing for the contest because I didn’t want to waste all of our hard work over the past year."

McComas was recognized individually, placing 7th out of 150 competitors, but a miscount told her she placed 9th.

The event included a product development component in which the team had one hour to design a vegan noodle meal with a target market for millennials and Gen Z consumers.

They broke an outstanding record during this competition and challenge: "We got the highest score recorded at 399/400 for the team event," McComas shared. One point off of perfection.

This is the highest score in the event's 25-year history.

These four Big Walnut students worked very hard to get the score they got at the convention.

McComas said, "We studied together once a week over the summer, twice a week during the school year, and every school day a week before the contest. Studying often together helped us become a strong team. We were able to overcome almost all challenges during the team section of the contest."

Jenkins added, “Each and every one of us had different tasks to memorize. You had to memorize your own part of the project as well as knowing everyone else's task as well.”

Cline explained the complex knowledge the students had to demonstrate. The Food Science & Tech CDE requires students to have an in-depth understanding of food product development, food presentation and food safety. They were required to demonstrate knowledge of food math and calorie counts, even identify safety issues in processing facilitates.

The Floriculture team also participated for the first time at this National FFA Convention, earning a GOLD rating and placing 7th out of 45 state-champion teams.

Mr. Stimmell revealed, "This club was at a massive disadvantage going into this event. Nearly all schools competing are horticulture programs, and we do not offer a single horticulture class for students. All their knowledge gained was on their own time."

These teams demonstrated their hard work and saw it pay off during their 4-day trip.