Minuteman Students Earn 5 Medals at Mass. State FFA Competition

PHOTO CAPTION: Minuteman students who won medals at the recent Massachusetts State FFA Competition: Left to right - Miranda Guzman, Rouaa Alwaz, Nadishna Khadka, Jeff Benoit, Will McPhee, Andrew Abbott, Charles Lovett, in front is Arthur McKenzie. Photo by Sarah Ard.

Minuteman High School Students Earn Five Medals at Mass. State FFA Competition

By Judy Bass

STURBRIDGE - Students from Minuteman High School in Lexington captured five medals at the 88th Massachusetts State Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention held recently in Sturbridge. All the Minuteman medalists are majoring in either Biotechnology or Horticulture and Plant Science.

The Minuteman FFA chapter also received the 100% Membership Award, according to Minuteman Horticulture and Plant Science Instructor Sarah Ard, who is the school’s FFA chapter advisor.

The Minuteman students who earned awards - along with student Matthew Dunham ’19 (Stoneham), who is majoring in Horticulture - are eligible to apply to compete at the 91st National FFA Convention & Expo from October 24 – 27, 2018 in Indianapolis.

According to the National FFA web site, “The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.”

The 2018 FFA State Competition award winners from Minuteman were as follows:

1st Place: Animal Systems - Will McPhee ’19, (Winchester) majoring in Horticulture and Plant Science.

1st Place: Food Systems Team - Rouaa Alwaz ’20, (Watertown) majoring in Biotechnology, and Nadishna Khadka ’20, (Arlington) majoring in Biotechnology.

3rd Place: Social Systems - Jeffrey Benoit ’19, (Lancaster) majoring in Horticulture and Plant Science.

3rd Place: Plant Systems Team - Andrew Abbott ’20, (Woburn) majoring in Horticulture and Plant Science, and Charles Lovett ’20, (Arlington) majoring in Horticulture and Plant Science.

3rd Place: Environmental Science / Natural Resources Team - Arthur McKenzie ’18, (Malden) majoring in Biotechnology, and Miranda Guzman ’18, (Sudbury) majoring in Biotechnology.

“Many students who attended the event this year were competing for the first time,” Ms. Ard explained. “They go to see many areas of agriculture presented by students around the state and learn more about how Massachusetts agriculture impacts the state and country. Though we are a small state, we are very diversified and actually increased total farm land last year.”

Ms. Ard continued, “Students in the Minuteman FFA chapter can be from any technical program in the school, but the club mostly has students in Horticulture, Biotechnology, and Environmental Science. Agriculture overlaps with many areas, so if students are interested, they can connect whatever their passion is to their interest in agriculture.”

Minuteman was established in the 1970s as one of more than two dozen regional-vocational technical high schools in Massachusetts. Over the years, the school has distinguished itself by building a reputation for excellence. Minuteman students consistently excel on the larger stage and have won numerous awards at state and national competitions. Minuteman challenges all students to revolutionize their high school expectations by aspiring to their full potential, accelerating their learning, and achieving success in the 21st-century global community.