Moscow students head to FFA Convention
Organization will hold its event during the last week of October
Hard work paid off after Moscow High School students Samantha Smith, a sophomore, and Simon Salisbury, a junior, both qualified for the National FFA Convention.
The National FFA Convention is known for growing the “next generation of leaders” within agriculture, according to its website. The annual event will take place Oct. 26-29 in Indianapolis.
Both Smith and Salisbury qualified to compete in the agriscience section of the convention, which is similar to a science fair but revolves around agricultural topics. Their joint project will be part of the animal systems division.
In order to qualify, Smith and Salisbury successfully examined the effects of Gold Dust feed supplements on sheep weight during travel.
Both students were able to secure a grant that was funded through the University of Idaho by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to conduct their research. The grant paid for all of the equipment needed to perform their project with the sheep.
In addition, they had to complete a certificate through the University of Idaho to legally conduct their analysis.
Both students credit Smith’s mom, Kasee Smith, UI assistant professor of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, who helped them get a report together.
“She helped us with a lot of the statistics and gathered any loose empirical data to get our final results,” Smith said.
As they navigated through the research, Smith and Salisbury both realized that this became more than just bringing together data analysis and reports. It will be a helping hand to the livestock industry.
“It’s an actual study with legitimate data that can be used in the livestock industry, so it’s useful,” Salisbury said. “It’s not just about competition.”
While it is still a few weeks away, both students are excited to head to Indiana for the FFA convention, and are agree this could be beneficial in their pursuit of scholarships and the college application process.
With UI just a few miles from them, they hope to continue their studies after high school at the college in Moscow. Both plan to remain in the agricultural field.
Carrillo-Casas may be contacted at mcarrillo@dnews.com.
