Eight Electric City FFA members receive State Proficiency awards

Front+Row%3A+Katrina+Roberts-Small+Animal%2C+Ben+Kaul-+Mechanical+Service+and+Repair%2C+Reanna+Shular-Agricultural+Sales.+Back+Row%3A+Mary+Brown-Vegetable+Production%2C+Katie+Achilles-+Agricultural+Service%2C+Tyson+Hatch-+poultry%2C+Stephanie+Rollins-+Equine+Science%2C+and+Taylor+Potts-+Agricultural+Education

Photo by Photo courtesy of Jodi Koterba

Front Row: Katrina Roberts-Small Animal, Ben Kaul- Mechanical Service and Repair, Reanna Shular-Agricultural Sales. Back Row: Mary Brown-Vegetable Production, Katie Achilles- Agricultural Service, Tyson Hatch- poultry, Stephanie Rollins- Equine Science, and Taylor Potts- Agricultural Education

There were eight State Gold Proficiency Awards presented to Electric City FFA members.  The Montana FFA Agricultural Proficiency Awards honor FFA members who, through their Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs), have developed specialized skills that they can apply toward their future careers. Students can compete for awards in almost 50 areas covering everything from agricultural communications to wildlife management. State 1st place winners receive $250 from National FFA sponsors and the opportunity to forward their application for National competition. The following Electric City Members received this 1st place Gold awards: Katie Achilles- Ag Services, Mary Brown- Vegetable Production, Tyson Hatch- Poultry Production, Ben Kaul- Ag Mechanics Repair and Placement, Katrina Roberts- Small Animal Production, Stephanie Rollins- Equine Science, Reanna Shular- Ag Sales Placement. Taylor Potts received a Gold award in Agricultural Education.

Katie Achilles is a Senior at CMR High School. Katie has began an internship through the Benefis Emergency Room. She has also completed a CNA certification, and is currently working on earning an EMT-Basic certification. She is in an unpaid placement role in the Emergency Department, and works with the entire staff to help provide the best care possible for patients that come in. In this position, she has applied the skills I have learned through many FFA events and competitions, as well as many others that she has learned in my many medical classes.

Mary Brown is a senior at CMR High School. Mary shares a 1,500 square foot garden with my two sisters. They also maintain a 200 square foot greenhouse that is used to grow tomatoes, peppers, and occasionally other crops that need a warmer climate. She produces vegetable products for her family’s use. Mary help’s process all of our the produce by freezing, canning, or cooking. My Sister’s and I share theShe is involved in the labor requirements such as planning, planting, weeding, picking, maintenance, and processing of the garden.

Tyson Hatch is a 2017 CMR High School graduate. Tyson took a business class and learned some basics on how to run a business. During his high school ag class they started the chick project. That’s where Tyson realized what he wanted to do for a career. Raising both laying hens for eggs and broilers for meat was the path he chose to take for his career.

Ben Kaul is a senior at CMR High School. He works with his Dad as a floor installer. In his work he preps the floors, laying padding, laying the floor whether it is  vinyl, hardwood, carpet or tile. Ben also does clean up, which is consisted of picking up all of the scraps and garbage and taking it to the dump. He is responsible for accurate records that show my hours, materials used and what job they were used at. He has also helped with some of the marketing of the business.

Katrina Roberts is a senior at CMR High School. Katrina has been fostering kittens through Great Falls Pet Paw-See since her freshman year. She really wanted to have an animal project but due to allergies and housing code restrictions a production project was not feasible. Katrina works in an unpaid placement capacity for the Pet Paw-See as she logs time caring for the animals and working the adoptathon and habitats in the local pet retail locations. Katrina has no expenses out of my pocket as food, healthcare, and other supplies are provided through the organization. In the past four years she has fostered over 50 cats and kittens. Katrina is an approved high risk, special needs health of animals location and has had very small kittens to physically disabled cats. I work through a rescue foster placement person to get assigned animals and to help adopt them at a minimum of 4 months.

Stephanie Rollins is a senior at CMR High School. Her SAE in Equine Management and Production covers a vast variety of horse production and training activities. She has always had a love for horses. Stephanie attended her first barrel race at the age of 6 and that was it. She began to buy and train horses with the help of her grandma. She has continued to increase my herd of horses and the amount of rodeos in which she participates. One of her horses was used as a pick up horse at the NFR at the request of the rider. Stephanie has come full circle with young riders seeking out her help and assistance.

Taylor Potts is a senior at CMR High School. As an agricultural education aide she is assigned various projects and tasks to complete throughout the year. The largest of her projects was the InFARMation project she completed in 2017. The goal of the project was to place signs in fields visible from the highway with the sign labeling what type of crop was being grown there. In conjunction with the signs, Tempest Tech worked with the Electric City FFA to develop an app that would allow users to see more information about a crop being grown in that area.