Broiler Contest

By: Audrey Thonnissen

On Friday, November 8, 2024, the seventh hour Zoology class and FFA members took a field trip to Munsell's Poultry Processing in Fowlerville, MI. Led by teacher and FFA advisor Mrs. Wheeler, the purpose of the trip was to judge the chickens that the Zoology class raised from chicks. The zoology class was broken into two separate groups for judging. 

For the chickens to be judged, they needed to be ready to cook. The students, therefore, helped with the butchering process. For some students, this part of the process was challenging and pushed their perceptions of the processing industry. Allie Crowe, a junior who went on the trip, said this: “I felt like I’m was going to throw up, I was crying the entire time.” 

Here are some of the results that have come through: Zoology 1 placed 399, which is silver. With Zoology 1 doing so well, most of their points came from the weight of the chickens, but as an overall score they did very well. Lillian Atwood, a 6th grader, placed 71st out of 83 contestants and was ranked 4th and she placed Gold. Brielle Nichelson and Blake Root, both 8th graders, had the total score of 705 and they were ranked 16th. Out of all the contestants at the broiler contest, everybody did very well. In addition, students showed respect by assisting their classmates, even if they were not in the same judging group.