Saltillo FFA team succeeds

By KRISTY HEMMINGSEN | East Texas Edition

The Saltillo FFA skills demonstration team of (from left) Christian Emmons, Jessica Sparks, and Stephanie Nabors succeeded at the district, area, and state meets. Their expertise is trouble-shooting of tractors' direct current electrical system. -- Staff photo by Hemmingsen

Feb. 24, 2005 - The small FFA chapter of Saltillo, located in Hopkins County, continues to prove in a whole new way, that big things do come out of small packages.

The tiny town of Saltillo, itself, doesn't have very many citizens, according to the local post office, which calculates the population to be about 1,300. As for the local school, the student population is a mere 257 for grades pre-kindergarten through 12th.

Yet, in regards to Saltillo's agriculture department, a small size has no bearing on its successes. There are numerous students involved in the agricultural program, and the atmosphere, in general, appears inviting for friendship and education, and the kids seem excited to just be there.

Through the help, guidance, and leadership of Mike Teague, Saltillo ISD's one and only ag teacher and FFA director, it seems the FFA program and the ag classes are quite successful.

According to Teague, the Saltillo FFA throughout the years, on a chapter, team, and individual basis, has won several awards.

But, most recently, three young Saltillo FFA members helped to make the lights shine brighter for their local chapter.

Beginning at the start of this past school year, Teague began gathering his FFA students to comprise teams that would later compete in various FFA-sponsored leadership contests.

One team consisted of freshman (ninth graders). When the school year began, Teague worked with these youngsters, and aimed their education to trouble-shooting of a direct current electrical system that is found on tractors. Their learned skills were aimed at the skill demonstration competition at the Greenhand level.

(A skills demonstration is where a team performs an actual demonstration of an agricultural skill, including anything in the agricultural science or technology curriculum. The demonstration may last from 10 to 20 minutes. Points are given for explanation of skill and its effectiveness, as well as the performance of the skill which includes preparation and cleaning up afterwards.)

The Saltillo team of three ninth graders practiced almost every school day and sometimes on the weekends. Lots of dedication and time were put into mastering the skill and learning how to relay and demonstrate the information to the judges who would score their work.

Then, just two weeks before competition, one of the team members dropped out, leaving Christian Emmons and Stephanie Nabors short-handed. But 15-year-old Jessica Sparks stepped up and filled the vacancy.

Christian and Stephanie had to remain focused in the midst of losing a team member, and Jessica had to jump in and learn -- thoroughly and quickly -- all she could.

"It was hard," explained Jessica. "Because I had to really put a lot into learning the skill and do it fast."

When time came for the first district competition, held at Paris Junior College, the team's persistence and dedication paid off. Christian, Jessica, and Stephanie found themselves being awarded the second place win out of approximately 20 other chapters/teams.

From this district competition, the top three teams advanced to the area-level contest -- so the Saltillo team headed to the challenge in Marshall.

Perseverance prevailed again, and the Saltillo FFA team was declared first place winners of the junior skills demonstration. They excelled over teams from much larger schools such as Mineola, Gilmer, and Carthage. This win meant they were the only team from the area to advance to the state competition.

"There's one very interesting thing about all of this," according to Teague. "All chapters compete head-to-head, therefore, a one-teacher department like us may go up against a six-teacher department."

The state competition, held Dec. 4 at Sam Houston State University, was also an event to proud of. Just getting there was quite an accomplishment; and when they got there, the Saltillo FFA team faced 192 teams from throughout the state.

When the results were announced, the Saltillo FFA'ers placed in the Top Ten for junior demonstration skills.

The district, area, and state wins are certainly something that will not be forgotten, according to all three freshmen.

But, they each said, that part of the memories were a few small mishaps, that they now find to be quite funny. Some that were shared included a problem with the slideshow; a malfunctioning computer mouse; and on one occasion, Christian discovered, after the competition, that his pants had been unzipped during the entire process.

But, in all, these are all cherished memories.

Christian said, "It was really fun. But, at the beginning of every competition, I would get real excited, and then immediately nervous once I faced the judges."

Jessica stated, "It was really an enjoyable experience. I, too, would get nervous, but it would be before we would ever walk into the room. But, my teammates encouraged me and always told me that I could do it! Sometimes I would nervously forget what I was supposed to say or do, so I would just adlib and do my best."

As for Stephanie, she has always wanted to be involved in ag science and agriculture since the fourth grade. When she became an eighth grader, she had to choose between band or taking ag classes.

"I chose to put my all into taking ag classes and being apart of the FFA," she explained. "My teacher (Teague) really encouraged me to be a team member on the skills demonstration team. He said I appeared to have a lot of confidence and felt I would do a great job. ... I was so happy when we succeeded at every level. It was something I had really put my heart into. My teammates and I were determined to succeed."

"I am very proud of these three kids," said Teague. "They each worked really hard to achieve what they did."