Redmond HS FFA team takes silver in natl. event

Dr. Nicole MacTavish, Principal of Redmond High School announced Monday that Redmond High School students Mickaela Cyrus, Kraelyn Walker, Hailey Konze and Shelby Pick of the Redmond FFA won the Silver medal in the poultry division, and 16th place overall, in the nation, at the National FFA Convention & Expo held in Indianapolis last week.

Cyrus, Walker, Konze, and Pick, led by their Redmond High School FFA Advisor Lance Hill, represented the State of Oregon at the National Convention after winning the State level contest held at Oregon State University last May.

Winning the state competition last May moved the students on to the national competition in Indianapolis, where they battled 39 teams from around the nation and underwent six hours of judging, sorting and grading to emerge with the Silver medal in the poultry event.

“Some of our competition was very aggressive. We had to be more aggressive than we normally would in order to compete. I guess that’s competition for you!” said Cyrus of her competition.

The students were judged on their ability to identify classes of live birds for eggs and meat production, evaluate both internal and external quality of eggs, and evaluate and identify poultry parts and products.

Students win individual medals, in the case of Redmond FFA, three silvers and a bronze. From there, the team is assigned an overall medal standing, in this case silver. The individual rankings are also combined to produce an overall national ranking, in this case 16th in the nation for Redmond High School FFA.

“I felt pretty confident” said Cyrus. “I felt like I competed the best I’ve ever done! I think my team members felt the same way.”

“We were on the go from six, seven in the morning to ten, eleven at night. It was long, but it was great,” said Konze.

Winners of the National FFA Poultry Evaluation Career Development Event (CDE) were announced at the annual Awards banquet. The event was held in conjunction with the 85th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The event, held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, is one of many educational activities at the national convection in which FFA members apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations.

Now back in Redmond, after having time to reflect on the competition, Cyrus stated, “I feel very relieved. Aside from sleep deprivation, we studied pretty darned hard to get where we were. Sixteenth in the Nation overall is pretty darned good, especially since Oregon is not one of the main poultry production states.”

Konze added, “”It was wonderful. The best part was the team bonding part. Every day was a different adventure and experience. “