WORTHINGTON - The Worthington High School FFA Chapter honored its members during its annual banquet Monday at the high school.
The highest awards of the evening - the Stars - were presented to Nathan Schuck, Star Greenhand; Cody Gravenhof, Star Entrepreneur; and Morgan LeBrun, Star Placement.
The Worthington FFA Chapter presented its Honorary Degree to former Worthington FFA member and now Chapter FFA Advisor Matt Tripp.
Proficiency awards were presented to Josh Majerus in Ag Placement for his work at W-2 Meats; Cody Gravenhof in Ag Entrepreneurship for his Boer goat business; Morgan LeBrun in Ag Placement for her work at Hy-Vee Floral and Hope DeNeui in Ag Placement for her work at Ace Hardware. The four individuals will also be presented their State FFA Degree at the Minnesota FFA Convention in April.
Each year, the chapter recognizes the top students in each grade with leadership and scholarship pins. Recipients from the freshman class were Ben Rogers, Leadership; and Sarah Spieker, Scholarship. Sophomore honorees included Kelly Newman, Leadership; and Taylor Hastings, Scholarship. Alyssa Williams earned the Leadership pin in the junior class, while Vince Riley was presented the Scholarship pin. In the senior class, Katie Rogers was awarded the Leadership pin and Hope DeNeui received the Scholarship pin.
Special awards presented Monday night included a pin in extemporaneous speaking to Doria Drost; a pin in FFA Creed speaking to Sarah Spieker; and a gavel set to retiring chapter president Katie Rogers, who was also honored for her work as the Region 6 FFA President this past year.
Cody Gravenhof was presented the DeKalb Outstanding Senior award; Kelly Newman earned the Golden Spatula award for her work in the FFA food stand at the Nobles County Fair; and Morgan LeBrun was recognized as a Senior Student of Merit.
Josh Majerus was the recipient of the Jerry Russell scholarship, while Cody Gravenhof was presented the Martha Olson scholarship. Receiving scholarships from the Worthington High School Ag Advisory Board were Katie Rogers, Lauren Martin, Andrew Nystrom and Hope DeNeui.
Awards were presented to FFA members for events conducted during the past year. Brayden Donkersloot was honored as the winner of the annual trap shooting contest. In the fruit sale fundraiser, Alex Scholtes received first place with $4,007 in sales, Ryan Newman was second with $909 in sales and Ashlyn Rosenberg was third with $886 in sales.
The chapter’s Market Plan team of Morgan LeBrun, Josh Majerus and Katie Rogers was recognized as well for its competition in the National FFA Convention last October.
