WORTHINGTON -- Worthington High School FFA president Kaylee Williamson was presented the Region Star award Monday night during the 70th annual Worthington FFA Banquet.
The banquet, which culminates a year of work by FFA members, honored students for their work on Career Development Events (CDEs), proficiency areas, leadership and scholarship.
For the first time in Worthington High School FFA history, an all-female officer team led the banquet festivities.
Top chapter awards -- the Star in Ag Placement and the Star Entrepreneur -- were presented to Laura Duba and Kaylee Williamson, respectively. The Star Greenhand award went to Maggie Fornoff.
Recognized with the Honorary FFA Degree during the banquet was Jon Weitgenant.
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WHS FFA members who will receive their State FFA Degree at the Minnesota FFA Convention in April were also recognized.
State FFA Degree recipients include Kaylee Williamson for entrepreneurship in a lawn care business; Laura Duba for placement at Duba Sheet Metal; Travis Ailts for entrepreneurship in a lawn care business; Sara Schnieder for placement at TSC; and Caleb Fellows for placement at Christy Enterprises.
The Worthington FFA Chapter also boasts two regional officers this year, and Cheyenne Marco and Kaylee Williamson were honored for their service to the region.
Several proficiency awards were presented during the evening to FFA members who have excelled in recordkeeping for their specific project area.
In ag mechanics design and fabrication, the proficiency award went to Kyle Schultz for his work with Dykstra Repair in Bigelow.
Chris Prins was recognized in the area of ag mechanics repair and maintenance for his work at Jaycox Implement and Smith Trucking, while Laura Duba was honored in the same category for her work at Duba Sheet Metal.
In dairy production placement, three awards were handed out. Recipients included Aaron Schultz, working for Seven Hills Dairy/Ahlers Farms; Adam Vaske for Summit Lake Livestock/Penning Farms; and Caleb Fellows for Christy Enterprises.
The sales proficiency award was presented to Sarah Schnieder.
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Turf grass management proficiency awards were presented to Kaylee Williamson and Travis Ailts, who both work in lawn care businesses.
Leadership and Scholarship awards were presented to students in each grade.
Honorees included Cassie Landgaard, Freshman Leadership; Stuart Rogers, Freshman Scholarship; Dayton Williamson, Sophomore Leadership; Evan Almberg, Sophomore Scholarship; Nicole Burkard, Junior Leadership; Matt Schutte, Junior Scholarship; Chris Prins, Senior Leadership; and Sarah Schnieder, Senior Scholarship.
Public speaking awards recognized those FFA members who competed in public prepared speaking, extemporaneous speaking and presenting the FFA creed. Cheyenne Marco, who competed in the extemporaneous speaking competition at the National FFA Convention in 2007, was recognized, while Kaylee Williamson was honored as the 2008 extemporaneous speaker. Sarah Jacobs was honored as the chapter's prepared public speaking competitor, while Cassie Landgaard was honored as the chapter's Creed speaker.
Laura Duba was the recipient of the Jerry Russell scholarship, while Travis Ailts received the Ray Cuperus scholarship.
Awards presented for chapter activities went to Chris Prins for trap shooting; and for fruit sales, the top three salespeople were honored -- Taya Nelson sold $1,928 in fruit, followed by Jenn Scholtes at $1,100.50, and David Folkers at $530. Chapter appreciation awards were given to Josh Pomranke and Matt Schutte.
