Rianna RobinsonHerald Staffrrobinson@harrodsburgherald.com

Members of the FFA at Mercer County Senior High School were recognized for their achievements this school year before an audience of their families and friends Friday night at the annual FFA ban-quet.

Parents of the FFA members provided dishes for the potluck meal, and a video highlighting some of the activities students participated in this year was played. After the meal, MCSH principal Malissa Hutchins welcomed those attending the banquet and commended the members on their character. “I can truly say the students sit-ting here tonight are some of the hardest working students in our school,” she said.

The banquet was also attended by State FFA Vice President Jessica Gambrel, who addressed members and commended them on how they welcome visitors. “Every time I visit this chapter, I feel at home,” Gambrel said. “No mat-ter who you are, where you’re from and whether you are wear-ing a blue (FFA) jacket or not, we all have a talent inside us, and it is up to us to unlock that talent. Our crown has already been bought and paid for, we just have to put it on our heads,” she said. She also commended the team for their performance in regional competition, saying the Mercer FFA “might have the best parliamentary proce-dure teams in the state.”

The banquet continued with the presentation of awards. More than 250 awards and rec-ognitions were given to students for leadership, scholarship, par-ticipation on FFA skills teams and excellence in agriculture classes, among others.

Ashton Jones, who will serve as FFA president next school year, got things started by presenting the Judging team awards. Matt Hamilton, Wyatt Bishop, Brittany Gibson and Aleshia Chilton won awards for livestock judging. Dairy judg-ing awards were given to Owen Watkins, Jay Million, Hunter Drury and Jason Currens. Amber McGrath, Hayley Stinnett, Geneva Van Arsdall and Jamie Bowen earned Floriculture judging awards, and Zach Miller, Ashton Jones, Brittany Moore and Kamri McCain received land judging awards.

Jay Million presented schol-arship awards for academic performance. Winners were: Hunter Blake, Danielle Logue, Austin Hazelwood, Chase Watkins, Dakota Hawkins, Cameron Bryant, Leha Blake, Hayven Lawson, Cierra Steele, Celess Darland, Jessica Robinson, Olivia Nichols, Kelsie Edwards, Tristan Cloyd, Taylor Worthington, Maggie Baker, Chantel Elam, Kaylee Russell, Taylor Gray, Taylor Lawson, Rob Barnes, Angela Byrd, Michaela Carter, Amber Conner, Zach Miller, Zaine Edwards, Madison Fyffe, Emily Patterson and Braeden Baker.

Leadership awards were presented by Olivia Nichols, and recipients were: Meagan Pinkston, Hunter Drury, Ashton Jones, Karissa Rakes, Owen Watkins, Allisa Sowder, Matt Hamilton, Kaylie Hurlbert, Kyle Ellis, Rebecca Drury, Kristian Crank, Tori Carter, Chelsey Bugg, Brant Goodlett, Ashlin Kendrick, Logan Hamlin, Ashley Gibson, Dakota

Hawkins, Zaine Edwards, Kansas Chumbley, Zach Miller, Isabelle Sullivan, Leha Blake, Kandace Gash, Michaela Carr, Allison Giffith and Brittany Gibson.

Members of skills teams were also recognized with awards presented by Raychel Pete. Members of the small engines team were Owen Watkins, Cameron Bryant, Karissa Rakes and Layne Hahn. Colin Pinkston, Hunter Blake,

Celess Darland and Jordon Preston were members of the agricultural mechanics team. Welding team members were Hunter Drury, Mikey Bast, Chase Watkins and Ashton Jones. Record keeping team members were Nathaniel Bray, Jackson Johnson, Allison Griffith and Braeden Baker. Beef Bowl team members were Dylan Logue, Ashton Jones, Cameron Bryant and A.K. Gibson; Small Animal Bowl

team members were Meagan Shewmaker, Jenna Brown, Makayla Carr and Amber Conner. Equine Bowl Team members were Chase Watkins, Austin Hazelwood, Layne Hahn and Jesse Casey.

Hunter Blake, Joseph Riley and Colin Pinkston were mem-bers of the Aquaculture Bowl Team, and Owen Watkins, Hunter Drury, Allisa Sowder and Meagan Pinkston were members of the Ag Sales Team. Floral Design Team members were Jamie Bowen, Meagan Pinkston and Colin Pinkston, and Allisa Sowder, Jessica Robinson, Meagan Pinkston and Victoria Cherolis were members of the Agronomy Team.

Sarah Curtsinger presented the specialty awards. The cat-egories and recipients follow in that order: FFA quiz, Taylor Worthington; Deer Contest, Owen Watkins; Turkey Contest, Ashton Jones; Dog Breed Identification, Makayla Carr and Jacob Catlett.

Twenty-eight students recently participated at the University of Kentucky’s agri-cultural field day. They were: Matt Hamilton, Owen Watkins, Kyle Ellis, Landon Miller, Austin Hazelwood, Mikey Bast, Dylan Logue, Brandon Tyree, Zach Miller, Dakota Hawkins, Hunter Drury, Jason Carson, Cody Stiltner, Karissa Rakes, Hayley Stinnett, Chelsey Miller, Brittany Moore, Kamri McCain, Sarah Curtsinger, Olivia Nichols, Hunter Blake, Ashton Jones, Chase Watkins, Candace Anderson, Kansas Chumbley, Meagan Pinkston, Allisa Sowder and Rebecca Kaezing.

Austin Hazelwood presented awards to students who excelled in the 18 classes offered in the agriculture department at MCSH. The classes and the winner of their awards follow in that order: Agriscience II, Zach Miller, Equipment Operation and Maintenance, Ashton Jones; Landscaping, Isabelle Sullivan; Ag Construction Skills, Karissa Rakes; Greenhouse Tech I, Dakota Hawkins and McKenzie Worthington; Greenhouse Tech II, Jamie Bowen; Dynamics of FFA, Allisa Sowder; Introduction to agriculture, Rachel Wheeler, Chelsey Bugg and Brant Goodlett; Introduction to Leadership, Rebecca Drury and Kristian Crank; Ag Power and Machinery, Hunter Drury; Livestock Production, Sarah Curtsinger; Small Animal Technology, Amber Conner; Small Engine Technology,

Jordon Duncan and Karissa Rakes; Small Engine Technology II, Owen Watkins; Fish and Wildlife Management, Danielle Logue; Horse Management, Meagan Pinkston; Ag Consumerism, Leha Blake and Crop Technology, Angela Byrd.

Chapter Meeting teams were also recognized at the awards banquet. Senior Team Members were Hunter Drury, president; Allisa Sowder, vice president; Owen Watkins, secretary; Ashton Jones, treasurer, Olivia Nichols, reporter; Jay Million, sentinel and members Layne Hahn, Chase Watkins, Sarah Curtsnger, Austin Hazelwood and Celess Darland. Junior team members included Kyle Ellis,

president; Rebecca Drury, vice president; Kristian Crank, sec-retary; Chelsey Bugg, treasur-er; Tori Carter, reporter; Brant Goodlett, sentinel; and mem-bers Rachel Wheeler, Logan Hamlin, Ashlin Kendrick and Taylor Gray.

FFA President Hunter Drury presented assistant officers awards. Those recognized were:

Sarah Curtsinger, assistant pres-ident; Austin Hazelwood, assis-tant vice president; Candace Anderson, assistant secretary; Landon Bishop, assistant trea-surer; Celess Darland, assistant reporter; Kansas Chumbley, assistant sentinel; Leha Blake, assistant historian and Chase Watkins, assistant parliamentar-ian.

Committee chair awards were presented by Allisa Sowder to: Aleshia Chilton, Alumni Committee; Jessica Robinson, Community Service Committee; Megan Shewmaker, Conduct of Meetings Committee; Brittany Gibson, Cooperation Committee; Zach Miller, Earnings and Savings Committee; Karissa Rakes, Leadership Committee; Rebecca Kaezing, Public Relations Committee; Colin Pinkston, Recreation Committee; Layne Hahn, SAE Committee, and Matthew Hamilton, Scholarship Committee.

Owen Watkins gave recogni-tion to the Freshman Academy Executive Team members. Since freshmen are located at a separate campus from MCSH, they have their own chapter meeting team and committees. Awards were presented to: Kyle

Ellis, president; Rebecca Drury, vice president; Kristian Crank, secretary; Chelsey Bugg, trea-surer; Tori Carter, reporter; Brant Goodlett, sentinel; Ashlin Kendrick, historian and Logan Hamlin, chaplain.

Committee chairs and sec-retaries are: Alumni, Madison Fyffe and Kandace Gash; Community Service, Kelsie Edwards; Conduct of Meetings, Rachel Wheeler and Clark Bugg; Cooperation, Billy Lanham and Ashley Gibson; Earnings and Savings, Chantel Elam; Leadership, Taylor Worthington and Kaylee Russell; Public Relations, Taylor Gray and Izzy Cherolis; Recreation, Nathaniel Bray and Braeden Baker; Scholarship, Hannah Logue and Taylor Lawson and SAE, Jacob Smith and Kaylie Hurlbert.

Chase Watkins presented speaking awards to the fol-lowing students in the catego-ries listed: Creed Speaking, Kandace Gash; Small Animal Impromptu, Celess Darland; Fruit and Vegetable Impromptu, Rebecca Kaezing; Goat Impromptu, Kevin Peavler; Greenhouse Impromptu, Allisa Sowder; Horse Impromptu, Raychel Pete; Swine Impromptu, Ashton Jones; Ag Mechanics Impromptu, Karissa Rakes; Beef Impromptu, Matt Hamilton; Nursery/Landscape Impromptu, Meagan Pinkston and Dairy Impromptu, Austin Hazelwood.

Meagan Piknston pre-sented Proficiency Awards to students who have devel-oped a productive Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) program. The catego-ries and recipients were: Beef Production Entrepreneurship, Jay Million; Beef Production Placement, Owen Watkins; Swine Production, Ashton Jones; Agricultural Sales, Zane Lewis; Ag Service, Zane Lewis; Poultry Production, Allisa Sowder; Landscape Management, Kevin Peavler; Diversified Livestock, Ashton Jones; Specality Crop, Hunter

Drury; Dairy Production, Austin Hazelwood; Ag Education, Owen Watkins and Small Animal, Celess Darland.

Students were also recog-nized for their performance at the Bluegrass Regional Competition and last year’s state competition. There were 25 superior ratings at the region-al competition, with 12 superior first place and four superior sec-ond place ratings. The students were asked to stand and be rec-ognized. Members of the junior chapter meeting team placed first in the state competition last June and were awarded with gold State FFA Parliamentary Procedure pins. Members of the team were: Chase Watkins, Austin Hazelwood, Jordon Preston, Emerald Lee, Jess Robinson, Jesse Casey, Tyler Readnower and Layne Hahn.

MCSH agriculture teacher and FFA Advisor Dan Stoltzfus presented the Outstanding Awards. Before naming the winners, Stoltzfus compliment-ed the hard work and dedica-tion of the graduating seniors. “We have a group of graduating seniors this year that I would put up against any FFA group anywhere,” he said. Colin Pinkston won the award for Senior Ag Mechanics, Jordon Preston won the award for Junior Ag Mechanics, and Jason Carson, Meagan Pinkston, Hunter Blake, Rob Barnes and Amanda Lawson were awarded the Greenhouse Sales Award. Owen Wilson won the Darren Maddox 110 Percent Award, given to a student who goes above and beyond his or her class requirements in their dedi-cation to FFA and the agricul-ture program.

Kendra Rowland, FFA advi-sor and agriculture teacher at the Mercer County Ninth Grade Academy, presented the Star Awards. The Star Chapter Farmer Award went to Hunter Drury; the Chapter Star in Agribusiness Award went to

THE HARRODSBURG HERALD • HARRODSBURG, KENTUCKY • THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012 Page 10C

THE HARRODSBURG HERALD/Rianna Robinson

Owen Watkins, third from left, was the recipient of the Darren Mad-dox Memorial Scholarship. He was presented with a plaque by mem-bers of the Maddox family.

THE HARRODSBURG HERALD/Rianna Robinson

Hunter Drury, left, and Olivia Nichols shared a hug after the MCSH FFA Banquet Friday night.

Mercer County FFA Honors Students at Annual Awards Banquet

"No matter who you are, where you’re from and whether you are wearing a blue (FFA) jacket or

not, we all have a talent inside us, and it is up to us

to unlock that tal-ent. Our crown

has already been bought and paid for, we just have to put it on our

heads.” Jessica Gambrel,

FFA State Vice President

“We have a group of gradu-ating seniors this year that I would

put up against any FFA group

anywhere."Dan Stoltzfus, FFA

Advisor

THE HARRODSBURG HERALD/Rianna Robinson

The graduating FFA officers watch a slide show featuring pictures of each of them during the FFA Banquet held Friday night at MCSH.

THE HARRODSBURG HERALD/Rianna Robinson

FFA Advisors Mike Jones and Dan Stoltzfus presented senior Amanda Lawson with a spe-cial pot of flowers in appreciation for her four years of work in the MCSH greenhouse.

Mercer 11C