Urbana FFA members took part in various invitationals over the last few weeks, including the Mount Gilead Invitational, the Marysville Invitational, the Miami Trace Invitational, and the Ashland Invitational. Several teams participated in different judging contests.

Among these contests were: Dairy Cattle, Equine, General Livestock, and Dairy Foods. These competitions promote leadership and life skills for the students involved. All students take part in practices before the contests to learn the skills they will need for the competitions. Teams are made up of up the four highest ratings.

In the Dairy Products Contest contestants have to identify and score milk defects. They must also ID different cheeses, do CMT scores on samples of milk, score and ID defects on milker units, score sediment pads, and tell the difference between Dairy and Non-dairy products. Finally they must take a test based on the dairy industry and trends within the industry.

The participants from Urbana for the Mount Gilead Invitational were Kianna Gsell (18th), Paige Campbell (9th), Aeriana Hernandez (5th), and John Chambers (14th) . The team placed 1st overall. At the Marysville Invitational two weeks later participants were Kianna Gsell (6th), Aeriana Hernandez (7th), John Chambers (13th), and Mason Farmer (25th). The team once again placed 1st. The following week students went to the Miami Trace Invitational. The participants at this invitational were Aeriana Hernandez (14th), John Chambers (17th), Mason Farmer (24th), and Max Tucker (54th). The team placed 4th. The Ashland Invitational was the following weekend in order to prepare the teams for state. Participants were Kianna Gsell (20th), Aeriana Hernandez (11th), John Chambers (30th), and Mason Farmer (24th). The team placed 5th.

Congratulations to all the contestants on a job well done.

Respectfully submitted,

Kianna Gsell

Urbana FFA Reporter