Friday, April 26, 2024
The GHS FFA wildlife team, pictured from left to right: Tyler Kendall, Alex Arlington, Lexi Arlington and Carter Perez. They received an award for finishing fourth of 18 high schools on April 12, in the Region 5 wildlife contest at the Holt River Ranch in Graford.
The Granbury High School FFA wildlife team recently made history as they became the first ever wildlife CDE team in the district to advance to the state competition.
“This is the first wildlife team to advance to state in school history and I could not think of a better group of students who deserve it,” said GHS FFA wildlife teacher and coach Agustin Hinojosa. “I am very excited and proud of this team. They have been working their tails off before and after school studying plants and other components of the contest and now it is paying off; and to be the first wildlife CDE team in Granbury’s history to head to state is really saying something about these kids’ work ethic."
The state wildlife CDE competition will be held on Tuesday, April 20, in Nacogdoches at the Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest.
Hinojosa said he is looking forward to the experiences and memories his students are about to have at the state contest.
“As a teacher, I can still remember all the trips I took as an FFA member, especially the ones to a state contest,” he said. “I am also looking forward to the future of this young team. They are all underclassmen and will return to compete again next year. With this type of confidence booster, I look forward to seeing what these students will be able to do in the future."
The GHS FFA wildlife team is composed of four members: Lexi Arlington, Alex Arlington, Tyler Kendall and Carter Perez.
Lexi and Alex are twin girls who both hold the position of secretary for Granbury’s 2020-2021 FFA officers.
The team qualified for state after competing on Monday, April 12, in the Region 5 wildlife contest at the Holt River Ranch in Graford.
The four-person Granbury High School team also received two awards on April 12 — for placing fourth out of 18 high schools in the area and for receiving ninth overall in Region 5 among 53 high schools.
Along with the FFA wildlife team, the rest of the CDE teams competed on Wednesday, April 14, at their own area level contest at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. The teams included vet science, wool, horse judging, entomology and livestock judging.
“Out of the five teams who competed at the Area VIII contest, four of them will be advancing to their respective state contest (vet science, entomology, horse and livestock) which will be held at Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University,” Hinojosa added. “As a department, we are extremely thankful we were able to compete this year after being shut down last year due to COVID-19, and we are even more proud of our students and look forward to all the state contests in the upcoming weeks."
