Trenton resident Steve Maxey received an Honorary State FFA Degree during ceremonies Thursday night at the Missouri FFA Convention in Columbia.
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Maxey, who serves as director of development and foundation director at North Central Missouri College, was honored for his support of the FFA through his work with the Elizabeth and Arthur Barton Farm Campus at NCMC. The farm was a gift to the college several years ago by the Barton Family, which includes 138 acres that now serves the agricultural and natural resources students at NCMC as well as a site for many local and area FFA events. The farm campus includes three classroom buildings designed to support plan and energy science, animal science and ag mechanics, along with a greenhouse, wind turbine, lake shelterhouse, outdoor classrooms and test plots.
Maxey supports the Trenton FFA Chapter by hosting FFA events on the NCMC campus and working to secure scholarships for NCMC students based on their involvement in FFA. He also works with instructors to present programs about the Barton Farm Campus, careers in agriculture and opportunities available to students at NCMC. At Trenton High School, Maxey serveds as an advisory committee member, practice contest judge and interviewer and has participated in chapter fundraising events.
Chapter judging competition got under way on Thursday and the Princeton FFA Livestock judging team is headed to national competition after placing first. Princeton topped a group of 26 teams competing at Columbia. All four individual judges finished the day with a Group 1 rating and three of them were in the top 10. Emily Schwenneker finished first while teammate Jake Letner was second. Kimberly Meinke placed 10th and Brody Cridlebaugh was 21st.
The Princeton Horse Evaluation team took third and received a Group 1 rating. Individually, Braden Donelson was fifth, Jansen Stark was 16th and Taylon Place was 25th and all received a Group I rating. Samantha DeMoss earned a Group II rating after placing 92nd.
Princeton’s Poultry team was 15th and earned a Group II rating. Ethan Cast was 19th individually and earned a Group I rating. Receiving Group II ratings were Caleb Wyatt, who was 44th; Lauren McLain, who was 123rd; and Anna Swank, who was 125th.
The Princeton Soils team was 16th and earned a Group II rating. Thomas Mallinson finished 34th and received a Group I rating. Earning a Group II rating were Brant Faulkner, 54th; Colton Kenagy, 72nd; and Mason Henke, 128th.
The Tri-County FFA Farm Management team earned a Group II rating after finishing 15th. Earning individual Group I ratings were Tyler Lane, who placed 30th, and Megan Ellis, who was 32nd. Group III ratings went to Nate Sutton, 92nd, and Ashly Madison, 115th.
Gilman City’s Soils team placed 25th and earned a Group II rating. Hannah Snuffer (61st), Hailey Francis (70th) and Rose Parsons, (113th) earned a Group II rating while Ryleigh Hightree received a Group III rating and finished 158th.
Judging continues today with Trenton’s Soils, Parliamentary Procedure and Ag Sales teams competing along with the Grundy R-5 FFA Knowledge team, the Tri-County Ag Sales and Floriculture teams and the Princeton Dairy Cattle, FFA Knowledge and Meats teams.
State FFA Degrees will also be awarded this evening during ceremonies. Students from the area receiving degrees include Shelby Chaney, Loren Fox and Phillip Slater from Trenton; Danessa Derry, Jake Letner, Kimberly Meinke, Latisha Nelson, Jacob Pollard and Nate Roberts from Princeton; Myles Dustman and Gary Eads from Tri-County; and Danielle Myers, Dustin Robinson and Mason Ward from Gilman City.