Members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) in Louisa made a splash at the annual State Convention this past June. Held at Virginia Tech, chapters of the FFA across the state gathered to compete in agricultural knowledge. 

  ‘22 graduate Savannah Goodwin, senior Allison Allen and sophomores Sydney Wills and Shanoa Wright completed the chapter’s Horse Judging and Hippology team. Goodwin and Wright respectively placed ninth and tenth individually in the state, and the team placed fourth overall. 

  Seniors Jayden Kekel, Maddie Harris, Haley Jimerson, and Kayden Belverio competed for veterinary science for the chapter. The team placed seventh overall in the state. 

   The veterinary science competition is composed of three areas of expertise: Math, ID’s, and equipment. Of the three, the team members collectively agreed that math was the most challenging area. 

   Hippology and Horse Judging is a joint competition in which each chapter will judge the conformation of horses and a class of riders with their horse, as well as test their equine knowledge on paper. Both teams studied for the competition through the duration of last school year and attended local competitions to prepare for the State Convention.

    There were a plethora of challenges while at the state convention: from difficult math questions to a lack of A/C in the dead of summer. Regardless of wearing corduroy jackets in the middle of June, the team had a blast meeting new people the whole week. 

  “[The convention] was amazing; honestly, the experience of being able to spend a week at a college and getting to meet a bunch of people that I’ve never seen in my entire life was AMAZING; I mean the diversity. It was absolutely fantastic,” said Belverio. 

  The Lousia FFA also has exciting news to share about newly graduated Savannah Goodwin, who is now an official officer of the Virginia FFA. Goodwin was elected at the state convention for the position of Reporter, after an extensive application process. 

  Throughout the summer preceding the state convention, Goodwin worked on completing the paper-portion of the application which inquired about why she wanted to be a state officer. At the convention, Goodwin went through interviews each day, whether it was one-on-one or delivering a speech. Every moment of the interviews, the contestants were judged on their poise and character as a member of the organization. 

  Goodwin has been involved in FFA since 6th grade, and has worked her way up the tiers of the association throughout her middle and high school career. 

  “I wanted to be able to give back to my community that had a lot of impact on my growth.” Goodwin said. “Knowing the impact that my FFA had on not only my agriculture opportunities but also my life skills, it gives me a lot of joy knowing that I am providing those same skills and opportunities to the students while in office.”

  Goodwin shared one of her first experiences in office when the team was given the opportunity to lobby on The Hill (a newspaper based out of Washington D.C.) for agriculture education, and had the chance to meet with representative Abigail Spanberger to learn about how she is supporting students across the commonwealth. 

  The Louisa FFA is making differences; from our local community to the whole state of Virginia, one step at a time.