Hunterdon County Vocational School District Students Top FFA Events

Califon, N.J. - A dreary, gray rainy day did not stop the light from shining brightly on Hunterdon County Vocational School District students as their successes were recognized in recent Future Farmers of America competitions.

The district’s Environmental Sustainability and Engineering Academy (ESEA) students achieved remarkable results during their recent participation in the FFA Career Development Events at Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

This is the first year ESEA students entered the Environmental and Natural Resources and Floriculture categories, and they placed in both events held April 7.

The Environmental and Natural Resources team placed second; team members and their rankings include:

· Amelia Weldon – 3rd place individual

· Emily Robbins – 12th place individual

· Alyssa Pershad – 15th place individual

· Kirstyn McKee – 17th place individual

The Floriculture team placed seventh; team members and their rankings include:

· Eleanor Stentz – 3rd place individual

· Bella Casanova – 10th place individual

· Gita Baskaran – 11th place individual

Unfortunately, the Floriculture team’s fourth member was sick and could not participate in the event, so his score of 0 factored into the team score. The remaining team members’ exceptionally strong showing helped them overcome that 0 score.

Two teams of ESEA students also competed at the Eastern Pennsylvania FFA Career Development Events. New Jersey and Pennsylvania organizers combine resources to hold some events in just one state and then open participation up to teams in the neighboring state.

At the April 25 Eastern Pennsylvania competition, ESEA’s Poultry Evaluation team placed second; team members and their rankings include:

· Jaimy Solis- 4th place individual

· Benjamin Huebscher – 7th place individual

· Kristofer Litwinko – 8th place individual

· Zoe Laffler – 11th place individual

The Food Science and Technology team also placed second; team members and their rankings include:

· Milo Thomas – 5th place individual

· Emma Wuerthner – 8th place individual

· Mackenzie Stanley – 9th place individual

· Alexandra Porambo –10th place individual

The top individual finishers in the Career Development Events – Solis, Stentz, Thomas and Weldon – will each be recognized on stage at the upcoming FFA State Convention at Monmouth University on May 25-27 for placing in the top five individually. Fourteen ESEA students will each be awarded a personalized FFA jacket, which will also be presented at the convention.

ESEA students continued to shine in FFA competition throughout April. At the April 27 New Jersey FFA Agriscience Fair held at Rutgers Eco Complex in Bordentown, students received first place in two divisions. They all will advance to the National FFA pre-qualification round with their agriscience research projects. Their rankings include:

· Nina Weiland – 1st place Environmental Services/Natural Resources System Division III

· Ned Scannell –1st place Environmental Services/Natural Resources System Division IV

· Benjamin Huebscher - 1st place Environmental Services/Natural Resources System Division IV

“I couldn't be happier with this year’s results,” says ESEA Instructor Renée Stillwell. “The students worked incredibly hard and truly put their best effort into doing as well as possible in representing Hunterdon County’s ESEA.”

Stillwell adds that many of the teams performed so well by seamlessly applying what they previously learned in class to real-world scenarios.

For more information about the career-focused instruction and the many Career and Technical Student Organizations available to students across HCVSD, but especially in the Environmental Sustainability & Engineering Academy, visit https://esea.hcvsd.org/.

Hunterdon County Vocational School District offers three full-time, science-based Academies: The Biomedical Sciences Academy (BSA), the Computer Science & Applied Engineering Academy (CSAEA) and the Environmental Sustainability & Engineering Academy (ESEA). The district’s largest school is Hunterdon County Polytech Career & Technical School, a shared-time high school that prepares students for a seamless transition to college and career paths. HCVSD also operates an Adult & Continuing Education school. Learn more at www.hcvsd.org.

All pupils will be given equal opportunity for enrollment in programs operated by the Hunterdon County Vocational School District regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status (34 C.F.R. Part 100, Appendix B, Section IV-A). No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives federal financial assistance, et seq (34 C.F.R. Part 104.4(a)(b).