GRANGER –– While other students are girding for spring sports competitions, Granger High School FFA members are getting ready for Career Development Events to test their agricultural skills.
This week, Granger FFA competes at the first annual Burleson County Classic FFA Invitational CDE contest in veterinary science and floriculture.
“I really enjoy getting to do these types of opportunities. It’s a fun environment to be in, hanging out with friends and just getting to experience new things and all the different FFA events,” said junior Taylor Prinz.
The National FFA Organization has 24 CDEs, but Granger FFA only participates in five. “Some FFA programs focus on only one CDE. They commit to that event and get really, really good at it, but I have a lot of different students interested in a lot of different things,” said Erica Pavliska, Granger agricultural science teacher and FFA adviser.
Granger competes in veterinary science, floriculture, junior and high school livestock judging, horse judging and milk quality.
“We do those five and there’s something for everybody,” Pavliska said. “There are so many kids here who have an interest in animals or vet science. I just thought it would be really relatable or applicable to our students.”
Other examples of CDEs include cotton judging, forestry, wildlife, meat judging, poultry judging and nursery and landscape.
Each category is an individual competition intended to develop hands-on skills and essential knowledge a person needs to enter that specific career field.
Both vet science and floriculture students have similar breakdowns in competitions. With teams of no more than four, and no less than three, everyone gets a timed rotation at different stations, sponsors said.
One of these is a station where the vet-science students identify animal parasites and veterinary tools or instruments. Floriculture has to recognize plants, sometimes by only leaves or stems.
All students take a general-knowledge exam. For veterinary science, questions could involve different animal breeds or diagnosing a disease. For floriculture, many of the questions relate to general operations of a floral shop.
“It’s tough,” Pavliska said. “The kids get upset they don’t know all the answers, but I don’t know all the answers, either. I didn’t go to vet school.”
Pavliska and her students said they enjoy working together.
“The only way you’re going to learn is if you try,” the educator said.
Pavliska set up mock test and rotation stations in Granger’s FFA/ agriculture building so students could get a feel for how the competitions work.
Last week, Granger FFA attended the Katy FFA Invitational contest, which hosted over 10 different CDEs that day.
“To put it into perspective, horse judging had over 400 participants and milk quality had about 200 participants,” Pavliska said. “That’s just two contests. With 10 contests, there are over 1,000 students competing.”
She added, “It’s hard, it’s very competitive, but it’s definitely a lot of fun.”
Not all of her students know if these are career paths they want to follow, but they all agree they’re having a good time.
