In the very back of the science hallway, a line of windows might draw your eye. Usually bare, these windows have a new flair to them: they include the information of the officers for FFA. This might sound unfamiliar, but FFA should catch your eye like those windows, it is moving forward at a noteworthy pace.

FFA is a student led agriculture organization, and the VHS branch has gone a long way. Today, the finalists from the district LDE competition are competing in the area LDE, five out of the nine teams that competed in the first competition.

“Our team prepared by practicing Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and we were all really dedicated and worked hard to memorize and perfect our presentation,” junior and first year member Ashley Burton said. “We also presented to Mr. Little and Mrs. Spradling as a dress rehearsal and to get more feedback on what we should work on.”

LDE competition, an acronym for Leadership Development Competition, is separated into many various events. Among them is the skills demonstration team, where the teams from VHS demonstrated the use of small engine maintenance, and agricultural issues, where the VHS teams educated judges on the modern idea that meat can be grown in a lab (rather than slaughtered). In these topics, the majority of teams from VHS got first or second.

“It is really great for the FFA program,” Burton said. “We were really thrilled to know all the hours of practice and work had payed off.”

FFA has the largest number of members this year since its’ creation, but some members say that a focus of FFA is to get more students to join.

“Our FFA chapter is pretty small so it’s really great that we were able to send five teams to the area competition,” senior Makinna Pritchard said. “It would be even more amazing if we had more students move on to state.”

FFA has worked since the beginning of the year on their preparations as an organization, and they are waiting on the results of area currently. And they have many goals for the years to come.

“We want to get as many students involved as possible, open their eyes to agriculture, foster leadership skills, communication skills, and things that will help students after they leave high school, whether it be the college classroom, a job position, or even just being an educated consumer and adult,” FFA advisor Magan Escamilla said. “We want to make sure that our students leave here with the skills necessary to be successful.”