FFA, SkillsUSA And E-sports Clubs Attend State Competitions
Author: Karsyn Sangray, Broadwater High School Student Intern
Many of our students were scattered around the state last week competing at state FFA, Skills USA and E-Sports conventions.
FFA has been prepping and qualifying throughout this past year. President Amanda Pesicka led the group toward success. She encouraged her fellow members to compete in Horse Evaluation, Agronomy, Sales, and so much more. To Amanda, FFA isn’t just another club. A lot of people looking in may think that they just get into their official dress and talk about crops. This is not the case. They spend hours prepping and trying their hardest to compete at their highest level. Some of the students have long days throughout the week, with school, sports practice, and then a two-hour practice for their FFA event. Amanda describes the overall week and atmosphere of the State convention, saying, “The week was pretty long, we had lots of running between competitions but overall it was good. I felt as though the competitions went well, for sales and horse evaluation, we didn’t make the top ten. We still had a good showing and high team placings.”
Spencer Braatan is one of those who competed in Livestock Judging and Agronomy. He qualified for Livestock in the Ruby Valley Invitational and Agronomy. He also qualified through the Deer Lodge Districts competition. He competes in FFA because of his family's influence, which can be said about a lot of the members. The communication sessions were important. The judges had contestants come in every day to speak to them and encourage them to be better ‘Future Farmers of America. ’ Spencer said, “The sessions were fun, they had some interesting speakers. The retiring officers gave some meaningful speeches with good lessons. FFA gives me more opportunities to get involved in the community and show my skills in livestock judging to help better me for my future.”
Another club from BHS that had a busy week was SkillsUSA. This group has been working hard the entire year, with practices that can last up to four hours, to compete at State. Teigen Volkman performed well. He is a sophomore this year and was able to compete in Power Equipment Technology and Job Interview. In Power Equipment Technology, Volkman worked with his hands and learned all about small engines. He was responsible for identifying all the parts and tools used for small engines. While the Job Interview is self-explanatory, Volkman took this seriously. He asked several of his teachers to help him run through practice interviews and give him pointers. He said, “I got third place in Power Equipment Technology. I prepared by having practice every Monday night, which lasted four hours. I worked on engines and had a lot of practice interviews and made a fake resume. Skills is about working on your skills and what you’re best at while trying to improve.”
Finally, E-Sports is a relatively new club in our high school. Members have been involved in the club for two years, and this was their first year competing at State. Junior Creighton Wright provided insight into their competition game, ‘Valorant. ’ Valorant is a video game that has a five versus five. It builds teamwork and the objective is to get a bomb planted, which secures the win in the round. The club was undefeated in pre-tournament matches. Creighton sums up their final game by saying, “Everyone was super stressed, which led to our downfall. We got in the last match and got to place second. We have practices 4-5 days a week, lasting from 4 pm to 7 pm as well as work on some weekends. It is a lot of fun. It can be frustrating when you see that defeat screen, but in the end, it’s a team game. Playing with my team is a lot of fun. The members make the game lively and I think more people should try it out.”
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
PhotoCredit: Karsyn Sangray, Photographer
Image 1 Caption: Amanda Pesicka and Spencer Braatan attended the State FFA Competition last week.
Karsyn Sangray, Photographer
Image 2 Caption: Creighton Wright, left, represented BHS at the E-Sports competition and Teigan Volkman attended SkillsUSA competition last week.
Karsyn Sangray, Photographer
.jpg)
