Princeville FFA compete in the Section 5 and State Agronomy CDEs

By Dakoda Maguire

Why spend your Monday night doing homework or chores when you can spend it making memories with your friends that will last a lifetime? That’s exactly how seven Princeville High students spent their night!

On Monday, December 9, seven members of the Princeville FFA Chapter traveled to Metamora Township High School in Metamora, Illinois to compete in the 2019 Section Five Agronomy CDE. Competitors included; seniors Kip Hoerr and Ellie Ferretti, junior Carrie Gill, and sophomores Quentin Cooper, Dakoda Maguire, Denver Hoerr, and Kate Colgan. The participants had been practicing before school for a week and then studying more in any spare time they had.

“I feel pretty confident that we’ll do pretty well at this contest,” Princeville Ag teacher and FFA advisor, Jacob Meisner, said. “We’ve got a lot of kids that have studied a lot and put in a lot of time preparing for this contest so I’m excited to see how well they’re going to perform tonight.”

This CDE (Career Development Event) relies heavily on the contestant’s ability to memorize, with four out of the six parts of the contest being identification. For this contest, students had to correctly identify crops, weeds, equipment, and insects, judge six class of materials, including corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, hay, and silage, and have a general understanding of the agronomic industry to take a multiple-choice test.

Junior Carrie Gill says that she’s “learned a lot” in preparing for this CDE. When asked if she felt prepared for this contest, senior Ellie Ferretti reported that she thinks she’s “prepared enough.” Just like athletes, Princeville FFA members make goals for themselves to reach. Sophomore Quentin Cooper says he “just want to improve and do better than last year.”

After the participants had turned in their final scorecard, they returned to the waiting area to wait for results to be read. When asked how she felt waiting for results, sophomore Kate Colgan said “anxious.” “ I felt that I gave it my best and that studying paid off,” said Denver Hoerr, sophomore, when he was asked how he felt he did.

The Princeville team received 4th place out of 7 teams and while that may not sound impressive, Princeville was only 100 points behind the number one team. They also had two individuals make the top ten; Kip Hoerr with 6th place and Dakoda Maguire with 7th place. “I feel super proud,” sophomore Dakoda Maguire said when asked how she felt making the top ten. “This has been my goal since last year when I made it to state as a freshman. I feel so accomplished and I’m ready to place even higher next year.”

Just because the section contest was over, that doesn’t mean it was time to relax. The Illinois FFA State Agronomy CDE was on Saturday, December 14, and that meant more studying for four individuals. Those individuals were senior Ellie Ferretti, sophomores Dakoda Maguire and Kate Colgan, and freshman Liam McGrath. Also on December 14 were the Illinois FFA State Dairy Foods and Meats contests, all held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“I would say that state CDE’s are better designed to fit the real-world scenarios in that area,” senior Kip Hoerr, who has participated in state agronomy the past two years, said. “State CDE’s better mimic what a job in that area would be like. You need to actually understand the concepts and know identification beyond memorization.” Princeville was able to place 14th in the state of Illinois, with one individual placing 16th in the state, Dakoda Maguire. Good job, Princeville FFA!!