By Ramil Lorenzo Gonzalez
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MHS’ Future Farmers of America (FFA) continued their streak of success at the 2013 FFA Hawaii State Convention in Hilo, with six top three wins and Seniors Nolan Caballero and Courtney Wilson qualifying for nationals. These achievements, along with their own travels around the Big Island, made their four-day trip an especially memorable one.
“I feel they dominated. They really did,” remarked FFA co-adviser Monica Yamaguchi. Co-adviser Jeffrey Yamaguchi, added, “I couldn’t ask for much more.”
The competition tests numerous skills ranging from public speaking to memorization, but despite some initial anxiety, the students performed better than they expected. “I was completely nervous because all the people in my competition were very intelligent and smart. I was so happy and relieved that I got first and gold in my (event),” said Caballero, who won first in Prepared Public Speaking. Wilson, who placed first in Job Interview, expressed, “I was very happy because I was successful in a competition that took me out of my comfort zone. It made me think on my feet and come up with answers that I hadn’t rehearsed.”
Aside from fostering friendly competition, the trip also gave students a hands-on experience of agricultural life through visits to the Hawaii Lowline Cattle Company in Ahualoa and Merriman’s Restaurant in Waimea. “The thing we tried to give the students this year was kind of a farm-to-table (experience),” said Jeffrey Yamaguchi, “It just shows, I guess, a nontraditional, more fresher, just a different way of doing business; from start to finish, how they raise the animals to how the restaurant gets the product.”
For FFA veterans like Caballero, the trip was also a bittersweet way to end their time with the FFA family. As Oahu County vice president and state treasurer, Caballero, along with State Secretary Senior Samantha Larita, even had the opportunity to interact with officers from the mainland and tour them around the island, though his term in office ended with the state competition. “Now since we retired, we go our separate ways and we won’t really see each other again how we used to. (But) it wasn’t too sad because we ended the year with a bang, and just knowing we made a difference is a reward itself,” expressed Caballero.
With the national competition still several months away, Caballero has plenty of time to relax, but Jeffrey Yamaguchi feels that winning isn’t the important part at this point anyway. “I think this is one of the situations where the experience itself of participating in a national contest is more important than actually winning or, you know, even placing in the top three or four,” he commented, “Just going up, having been up there, meeting all the guys in the mainland; the experience of going to nationals in itself is the more important rewarding thing.”
While Caballero is still eagerly awaiting nationals, Wilson has decided not to continue, and her time in FFA ended in Hilo as well. “I would love to go to nationals, but it’s too expensive and it will also be held when college is in session,” she explained, “I’m very happy about the outcome of my last FFA competition and that I had such an amazing last trip with my fellow FFA members.”
The 2013 National FFA Convention will be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 in Louisville, Ky. FFA members are glad to end the season on a high note while hoping for more successes at nationals and next year’s conventions.
