Several members of the FFA Chapter at Escalon High School have been busy over the past few weeks, excelling in competitions and attending training academies.

On Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, two of the seniors in the EHS Ag Program competed at the FFA Regional Speaking Contest. Both competed at the sectional level and placed high enough to go through to the next round held at Modesto Junior College. Jacob Dugo, the chapter president, and a senior at EHS, competed in Extemporaneous Speaking. The competition requires the students to prepare a six- to eight-minute speech in 30 minutes or less, on a current issue in agriculture. Madison Hagglund, the chapter vice president, and a senior at EHS, competed in the Job Interview contest, which is a mock interview to help students prepare for jobs and gain experience in public speaking. She said it was a really great experience and a great opportunity for her. We would like to congratulate both of these students as they took their skills to the next level.

Earlier in the year, on Jan. 21 and 22, advisors Mr. Saephan and Ms. Leventini took seven sophomores and juniors in the ag program to MFE and ALA in Monterey. These are two leadership conferences for specific grade levels. Made For Excellence (MFE) is a conference for the sophomore level and attending were Darius Higby, Madison Smith, and Makenzie Mendes. They learned new leadership skills in the different sessions, as well as new ideas to bring back to their chapter. The Advanced Leadership Academy (ALA) is a conference for the junior level and the students that attended were Victor Romero, Molly Terpstra, Haylee Castro, and Gracie Bracco. They had many sessions over the two days and gained many leadership skills, and ideas to bring back to EHS. All of the students had fun, met new people, and were able to take many new skills away from the conferences.