2024 FFA Banquet

Isaac Murphy, Staff Writer

April 30, 2024

Earlier this week the Alliance FFA Chapter held its 86th annual banquet. At the banquet, seniors are thanked for their service to the chapter, members are recognized for their achievements, and the 2024-2025 Alliance FFA Officer team is announced!

The night started with a welcome from the 2023-2024 Officer team and a dinner, which was provided by the West Side Event Center. The first awards presented were sponsorship awards. These went to the members who sold the most tickets and helped bring in the most sponsors for the Blue and Gold Gala! After these students received their certificates and gift cards it was time for Leadership Awards and Career Development awards. All teams and individuals that placed top 2 at districts or state received a plaque.

It was then time for STAR Greenhand and Chapter degrees. These are presented to the first and second-year members with the most outstanding SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience). Only one person can receive each award and this year they went to Isaac Murphy (STAR Greenhand) and Rozlyn Wills (STAR Chapter)! After this, the seniors were recognized for all that they had accomplished with the chapter and all of the help they had provided, they were given scholarships and their senior parting gifts as a thank you. After all of this, it was finally time for the 2024-2025 Alliance FFA Officer team to be announced! The team this year is Macy Brooks, Brooklyn Burri, Ashley Carr, Isaac Murphy, Sutten Parkison, Shyla Salcido, Josie Sanders, and Rozlyn Wills!

I was also able to interview Ms. Pohl, one of the Ag teachers, and FFA advisor. My first question for her was what the purpose of the banquet is, she said, “The purpose of the banquet is to wrap up the year and recognize all of the amazing members that competed and showed they truly love FFA.” Pohl told me that it is also to thank the sponsors and volunteers who have helped throughout the year. The next question was if the banquet was a success, “I would say it was. We had over 100 members and guests at the banquet and they were all very supportive of every member that was honored!”

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Overall it was a fantastic banquet full of very deserving members who should be proud of what they have accomplished this year. With a successful banquet like this; hopefully, this tradition can continue in the years to come!

Awards Listed Below:

Top Ticket Sales:

Rozlyn Wills

Top Sponsorship Individuals:

Brooklyn Burri

Kaylee Henthorn

Rozlyn Wills

Scholarship Awards (Freshman):

Autumn Henthorn

Gavin Mann

Kaci Messersmith

Ryley Norris

Hadley Shrewsbury

Aubree Splattstoesser

Addison Wittman

Scholarship Awards (Sophomore):

Ryggin Meyer

Makenna Quick

Rozlyn Wills

Scholarship Awards (Junior):

Macy Brooks

Ashley Carr

Kayel Lambert

Abigail Louden

Seth Meyring

Sutten Parkison

Shyla Salcido

Josie Sanders

Scholarship Awards (Senior):

Aiden Bolek

Leadership Pins:

Josie Sanders

Makenna Quick

Kaylee Henthorn

Ryggin Meyer

Rozlyn Wills

Isaac Murphy

Shyla Salcido

Addison Wittman

Addison Belford

Macy Brooks

Sutten Parkison

Jackson Bailey

Ashley Carr

Kail Fickel

Mandie Ylander

Seth Meyring

Brooklyn Burri

Autumn Henthorn

Hadley Shrewsbury

Madison Christen

Kaiden Krebs

Kayel Lambert

Kaci Messersmith

Carson Swenson

Aiden Bolek

Ryley Norris

Proficiency Awards:

Sutten Parkison (Beef Production)

Macy Brooks (Home and Occupational Safety)

Ashley Carr (Goat Production and Outdoor Recreation)

Ryggin Meyer (Equine Science)

Seth Meyring (Beef Production)

Josie Sanders (Sales and Services)

DEKALB Ag Accomplishment:

Kaylee Henthorn

Public Speaking Awards:

Extemporaneous Speaking:

Seth Meyring (Extemporaneous Speaking)- District Champion and Gold rating at state

Employment Skills:

Kaylee Henthorn-District Champion and Gold rating at state

Macy Brooks-3rd Place at districts and bronze rating at state

Creed Speaking:

Autumn Henthorn-District Runner-Up, Silver rating at state

Junior Public Speaking

Ryggin Meyer-Purple ribbon at districts

Rozlyn Wills-White ribbon at districts

Senior Public Speaking

Shyla Salcido-Purple ribbon at districts

Ag Demo:

Makenna Quick, Brooklyn Burri- blue ribbon at districts

Conduct of Chapter Meetings:

Aubree Splattstoesser, Kaci Messersmith, Ryley Norris, Addison Belford, Jozzlynn Smith, and Gavin Mann- blue ribbon at districts

Parliamentary Procedure:

Jackson Bailey, Kail Fickel, Isaac Murphy, Ryggin Meyer, Carson Swenson, and Rozlyn Wills received a blue ribbon at districts

Career Development Events

Junior Livestock Judging (10th Place Districts):

Kail Fickel, Brooklyn Burri, Autumn Henthorn, and Makenna Quick

Senior Livestock Judging (State Champion):

Seth Meyring, Kayel Lambert, Shyla Salcido, Josie Sanders, and Rozlyn Wills

Ag Sales (District Champion):

Kaylee Henthorn, Jackson Bailey, Carson Swenson, and Makenna Quick

Livestock Management (District Runner-Up):

Ryggin Meyer, Sutten Parkison, Josie Sanders, Keera Stanec, and Rozlyn Wills

Floriculture (4th Place Districts):

Mandie Ylander, Macy Brooks, Kayel Lambert, Madison Christen, and Shyla Salcido

Welding:

Addison Wittman, Carson Thomas, Kail Fickel, and Kaiden Krebs

Agricultural Mechanics (10th Place Districts):

Aiden Bolek, Kaiden Krebs, Addison Wittman, and Mandie Ylander

Farm and Agribusiness Management (4th Place Districts):

Jackson Bailey, Makenna Quick, Josie Sanders, Rozlyn Wills, and Shyla Salcido

Food Science (District Runner-Up):

Kail Fickel, Ashley Carr, Sutten Parkison, and Hadley Shrewsbury

Envirothon (4th Place District):

Brooklyn Burri, Keera Stanec, Jozzlynn Smith, and Isaac Murphy

Veterinary Science (6th Place District):

Ryggin Meyer, Ryley Norris, Autumn Henthorn, and Addison Belford

Agriscience (District Runner-Up):

Ryley Norris, Kaci Messersmith, Addison Belford, Addison Wittman

Environmental and Natural Resources (6th Place District):

Brooklyn Burri, Addison Wittman, Addison Belford, and Ryggin Meyer

Agronomy:

Autumn Henthorn, Kail Fickel, Bailey Denison, Abigail Louden, and Madison Christen

Ag Biotechnology (State Runner-Up):

Kaylee Henthorn, Isaac Murphy, Mandie Ylander, and Makenna Quick

Meats Evaluation (District Champion):

Seth Meyring, Josie Sanders, Rozlyn Wills, Kayel Lambert, and Shyla Salcido

STAR Greenhand:

Isaac Murphy

STAR Chapter:

Rozlyn Wills

Iron Man Award:

Josie Sanders

State FFA Degree:

Kaylee Henthorn

American FFA Degree:
Rasine Bolek

Wade Sanders

Braelyn Shrewsbury

Special Recognition:

Allison Roberts, Sean Rideway, Madison Adam, Hannah Fuerniss, Shauna Meyring, Teresa Sanders, Krista Carter, Aaron Vivion, Chris Stein, Clayton Krause, Taelar Krause, Marcia Teten, Lisa Splattsoesser, LaShelle Salcido, Crystal Wittman, Courtney Wills, Lisa Burri, Dixie Parkison, Nicole Lauden, Laura Higgins, Jamie Quick and Amy Shrewsbury

Gold Level Sponsors:
Platte Valley Bank

21st Century

Platinum Level Sponsors:

Farm Credit Services of America

Senior Recognition:

Aiden Bolek

Kaylee Henthorn

Mandie Ylander

Chapter Scholarship Awards:

Aiden Bolek

Kaylee Henthorn

Kimber Romick Memorial Scholarship:

Kaylee Henthorn

FFA Alumni Scholarship:

Kaylee Henthorn

Sharon Davis Memorial Scholarship

Aiden Bolek

2024-25 Alliance FFA Officers:
Brooklyn Burri, The Historian

Ashley Carr, The Parliamentarian

Rozlyn Wills, The Sentinel

Sutten Parkison, The Reporter

Shyla Salcido, The Treasurer

Isaac Murphy, The Secretary

Macy Brooks, The Vice President

Josie Sanders, The President

About the Contributor

Isaac Murphy, Staff Writer

Isaac Murphy is a 15-year-old sophomore at Alliance High School. He moved here from Saint Cloud, Florida last December and absolutely loved our cooler weather here in Alliance, Nebraska. The reason he moved is because his uncle Kevin made the rest of his family move here. Isaac was born February 14, 2008 at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee, Florida to Kelly Murphy. Isaac had been through seven houses thanks to his mom getting married a lot, these houses ranged from Kissimmee, Florida to Saint Cloud, Florida. Isaac says that he has three main hobbies/interests, his favorite is playing video games. His two favorite being Rainbow Six Siege and Valaront, he says one of the few reasons he likes them so much is because they are shooter games and he has found out he performs well in them. Another interest Isaac has is Formula One racing! He has liked Formula One since he was about 10, loving the high intensity and watching as people compete in cars designed for such things. Formula One is when ten teams design a car under certain regulations, these regulations are known as the Formula One. When Isaac is older, he is hoping to go to Monaco because of F1 (Formula One) and the fact he finds it a really beautiful country. He also loves cooking with a strong passion, one of Isaac’s favorite things to make is grilled cheese, he likes to make this because it’s one of the easier foods to make. Isaac is also a big time sports fan and he really likes the Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic is a basketball team that is based out of Orlando, Florida, they are sponsored by Disney. An interesting fact about Isaac is that he only has one kidney, which is his right. The reason Isaac is missing his kidney is because he has a rare disease called Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney disease, which is where one of your kidneys does not fully develop. Isaac has four pets, two cats and two dogs. His dogs are named Pippen and Norman, these two breeds are jack russell mix and a boxer mix. Isaac’s cats are named Bean and Enzo, which his older brother named. He is an excellent student and has gotten all A’s up to his freshman year. Once Isaac graduates high school, he is hoping to go to the University of Wyoming for a degree in criminal justice. The reason Isaac for this is because he has an uncle in the Air Force that he wants to be like. Life here has been a lot different than Florida for him and he wouldn’t change a thing that has happened here. He can not wait to improve his writing ability by working for the SPUD. He is excited to be writing for The SPUD this school year!