STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Approximately 10,000 FFA members from across the state participated in Invitational Career Development Event (CDE) Judging Contests last week on Tarleton State University’s Stephenville campus.
This marks the 51st year Tarleton’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has hosted the statewide FFA invitational, organized by Dr. Ted Ford, agriculture and communication Professor, and Michelle Damerau, contest coordinator.
Approximately 1,700 ag science teachers, representing 520-plus Texas high schools, joined FFA members. Several hundred Tarleton students served as group leaders and contest mentors.
The invitational is a practice round, preparing students for team judging in a variety of categories. FFA members competed in 19 contests: ag sales, dairy cattle, entomology, environmental and natural resources, farm business management, floriculture, homesite evaluation, horse, land, livestock, marketing plan, meats, milk quality and products, nursery/landscape, poultry, range, veterinary science, wildlife and wool.
The top 20 in each judging category received a plaque and other prizes. Several $1,000 scholarships were awarded, along with a $2,000 sweepstakes agricultural scholarship.
The invitational is the largest of three contests Tarleton will host this spring. The university will welcome high school students again April 12 for area FFA contests and April 27 for contests involving dairy cattle, environmental and natural resources, homesite evaluation, land, milk quality and products, and range.
For more information, call 254-968-9020 or email [email protected].
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of nearly 17,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. True to Tarleton’s values of excellence, integrity and respect, academic programs emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.