Louisburg FFA brings home honors from nationals

By Andy Brown
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Updated: November 18, 2016

The Louisburg FFA Milk Quality team finished fifth overall at the 89th Annual FFA National Convention in Indianapolis. Members of the team are (from left) adviser Jim Morgan, Justin Sievert, Wyatt Reece, Georgia Wilde and Paige Buffington.

The Louisburg High School FFA chapter is no stranger to success as the Wildcat students annually bring home awards from the National FFA Convention.

This year was no exception.

Louisburg sent three teams to the 89^th Annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and all three were among the top in their respective Career Development Events (CDE). Each team received a gold emblem, while 11 of the 12 members who attended received individual gold emblems as well.

Those were just some of the honors bestowed on the Wildcat FFA program at the gathering that wrapped on Oct. 22.

“The FFA members did a tremendous job,” Louisburg advisor Jim Morgan said. “Having all three teams place in the gold division is quite an accomplishment. Louisburg FFA is the only chapter from Kansas to accomplish this and the only single-teacher chapter in the nation.

“Also having 11 out of 12 members achieve gold division is a sign of the student’s academic skills as well as their strong work ethic and desire to do well. We had many hours of practice during the summer and after school in which they worked very hard. I am very proud of this group.”

Members of the Louisburg Poultry team are (from left) adviser Jim Morgan, Faith Seuferling, Hallie Hutsell, Mariah Wrigley and Hattie Harris.

Louisburg has its best showing in the Milk Quality and Product CDE. The Wildcat team Paige Buffington, Wyatt Reece, Georgia Wilde and Justin Sievert finished fifth nationally in the event and all four members earned individual gold emblems.

The Poultry team also earned a top 10 finish nationally as Hattie Harris, Hallie Hutsell, Faith Seuferling and Mariah Wrigley came in seventh overall. Harris, Hutsell and Seuferling were all awarded individual gold emblem, while Wrigley earned a silver emblem.

Madelynn Yalowitz, Bryn O’Meara, Morgan Strumillo and Lexie Reece led the Louisburg Floriculture team to a gold emblem, but were also recognized some individual performances. Yalowitz, a senior, finished eighth individually, along with garnering an individual gold emblem with the rest of her teammates.

Members of the Louisburg Floriculture team are (from left) adviser Jim Morgan, Morgan Strumillo, Madelynn Yalowitz, Lexie Reece and Bryn O’Meara.

Yalowitz and Wilde also earned $400 in scholarship money for their efforts in their respective events.

The convention made the move from Louisville to Indianapolis this year and Morgan said his students enjoyed their week FFA students from all across the country.

“The FFA members really like Indianapolis because with 65,000 in attendance the whole downtown area is a sea of blue jackets,” Morgan said. “The members attended a number of workshops and learned ways to improve themselves as leaders as well as ways to improve the chapter.”