Carson High School CTE students compete in state FFA convention, qualify for fall national event
Submitted by editor on Wed, 04/12/2017 - 11:38am
Seventeen Carson High School Career and Technical Education students competed at the Nevada State FFA Conference in Reno last month.
FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, was formed in 1925 to bolster confidence and leadership in young men who were leaving farming to explore other opportunities. In 1969, female students were admitted to full membership rights.
Today, more than 45 percent of FFA members nationwide are female, and FFA curriculum has expanded to include biology, chemistry, veterinary science, engineering and entrepreneurship to round out relevancy to agricultural education.
Charlie Mann, CHS CTE agriculture and natural resources management teacher, said agricultural studies is often misunderstood, and encompasses biotechnology, research and public relations.
“Most people don’t understand that agriculture is critical to life, beyond the concept of ranching,” Mann said. “It’s about our food supply, also about science, business and technologies surrounding plant and animal production, as well as environmental and natural resources.”
More than 535 students from across the state competed in nursery and landscape planning, marketing and agribusiness management, environmental natural resources, animal management, veterinary science and floriculture, among others.
Four CHS CTE FFA students, Katie Jones, Belen Silva, Hayden Story and Holly Strasser, received their FFA Nevada State Degrees, given to top members of the state association. Only 60 students from across the state earned the degree. Strasser competed at the national FFA conference held in Indianapolis last year.
CHS student Katie Jones was elected to the 2017-18 Nevada FFA state officer team as the State Sentinel.
Agriculture and natural resources management studies is one of many Career and Technical Education pathways offered at CHS. The CTE program is part of Governor Sandoval’s CTE initiative, providing education at industry levels in six career cluster areas including professions in information and media technologies, agriculture and natural resources management, business and marketing, hospitality and tourism and skilled and technical sciences.
Veterinary science students graduate with their CPR certifications and plant sciences students graduate with their Environmental Protection Agency Handler Verification certification covering worker protection standards for working with pesticides.
“Our students work hard all year long to gain or improve the skill sets and knowledge to succeed in agricultural studies,” Mann said. “I couldn’t be prouder of these students.”
Other state awards earned by CHS students:
Nursery and Landscape
First High Individual: Maritza Filson
3rd place overall: Maritza Filson, Cristian Lamas, Belen Silva, and Alexsandra Knowlton
Marketing Plan
2nd place: Holly Strasser, Cristian Lamas, and Camryn Aten
Farm Agribusiness Management
3rd place overall: Holly Strasser, Camryn Aten, and Cristian Lamas
Carson High School’s Career and Technical Education program encompasses a vast number of classes and programs that teach today's students the high demand skills needed to get a job. CTE better prepares students for post-secondary education and/or the world of work, whether they choose to enter the work place directly from high school, or select to pursue post-secondary education in a technical training program, apprenticeship, or a two, or four-year college. CTE prepares students for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies, and makes academic content accessible to students by providing it in a hands-on context.
- agency
- agriculture
- America
- Apprenticeship
- Awards
- Business
- Career
- carson
- Carson High
- Certification
- CHS
- classes
- college
- Community
- conference
- convention
- CPR
- CTE
- Engineering
- entrepreneurship
- Environmental
- event
- Fall
- Farm
- farmers
- Food
- Governor
- Hands-On
- Holly
- Industry
- information
- Job
- Leadership
- life
- Marketing
- media
- Members
- Membership
- men
- natural
- natural resources
- Nevada
- nursery
- pesticides
- planning
- program
- Programs
- public
- ranching
- research
- school
- science
- Skill
- skills
- standards
- state
- students
- Teach
- Teacher
- Tourism
- training
- training program
- veterinary science
- Carson High School
- Education
- high school
- reno
