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Strong Showing For Escalon At Fresno State Field Day
FRESNO
Several Escalon FFA members were busy recently, attending competitions at both the Fresno State and Clovis Field Days.

Escalon FFA had a successful competition day again, this time at Fresno State and Clovis. On Saturday, April 22, a total of 26 Escalon FFA members competed at the Fresno State and Clovis Field Days. For some teams, this was the last time they will be competing this year as it was their State Finals Competition while for other teams, this was a chance to practice for their State Finals which will be held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this Saturday.

The teams that represented Escalon FFA were the Agricultural Mechanics Team, made up of Colby Reynolds and Moises Grajeda, the Floriculture Team, made up of Vanesa Orozco, Trenton Nascimento, Alisa Herrera, and Sandy Vargas, the Light Horse Judging Team, made up of Gillian Goodman and Emma Santellan, the Veterinary Science Team, made up of Julia Orlando, Mary Valencia, and Scott Terpstra, the Agricultural Pest Team, made up of Jacob Walden, Jack Fitzgerald, Zack Hearn, and Austin Terra, the Livestock Judging Team, made up of Natalie Bianchi, Cydney Keener, Elliott Mello, and Thomas Avilla, the Agricultural Welding Team made up of Nick Lattig, Brytton Mellor, and Matthew Spurgeon, and the Agronomy Team, made up of Rachel Swift, Matthew Lima, Mary Adams, and Caitlin Pehl.

In the end, the Agronomy Team won fourth place overall with Rachel Swift and Matthew Lima placing ninth and 10th, respectively. The Agronomy team will move on to their State Finals competitions at Cal Poly this weekend.

This year, however, the pinnacle of Escalon FFA’s Career Development Event Success was the Ag Pest Team. They dominated Fresno State Finals by winning first place overall in California. In addition to this, Zack Hearn won eighth place, Austin Terra got fourth place, Jack Fitzgerald won third place, and Jacob Walden won first place. Not bad for a team made up entirely of freshmen.

In addition to the Fresno and Clovis Field Days, April 22 was also the first day of the 89th Annual California State FFA Leadership Conference. Ten Escalon FFA members attended the four-day Conference. At it, students are given the opportunity to learn new leadership skills by attending workshops, listening to keynote addresses, being recognized for excellence in their Supervised Agricultural Experiences, meeting other FFA members from around California, going to the Ag Career Expo, and even going to a concert. Two of the attendees, Rachel Swift and Mary Adams, served as Escalon FFA’s delegates. They voted on constitutional amendments and for this year’s California FFA State Officer Team.

The Escalon FFA members who participated in the Fresno Field Day and State Conference were definitely able to grow in their knowledge of Agriculture and service as well as bring home some hardware.