Youth News
Oklahoma FFA Members Named in Three of the Four National FFA Star Categories for 2020
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 20:46:50 CDT
The National FFA Organization selected 16 students from throughout the United States as finalists for its 2020 top achievement awards: American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience.
Three of the sixteen FFA Star Finalists for 2020 come from Oklahoma- including Star Farmer Finalist JaLeigh Reneé Oldenburg of Mulhall, Star In Ag Placement Finalist Will Shelby of Madill and Star in AgriScience Finalist Nicole Stevens of Yukon.
Two of these national finalists were honored at the Oklahoma FFA Convention in 2017 as the State Star in their respective categories. Will Shelby was the 2017 Oklahoma Star in Ag Placement and Nicole Stevens was the 2017 Oklahoma Star in Agribusiness- click on their names to see those stsories from 2017 in the Blue Green Gazette.
The third national finalist here in 2020 from Oklahoma- Jaleigh Renee Oldenburg- won a National Proficiency Award in 2018 in Indianapolis- click on her name to see our story from 2018.
Oklahoma claimed one Star in 2019- Blake Kennedy of Tecumseh FFA was named the 2019 American Star in Agribusiness- our story on Blake from 2019 is available here.(Blake is pictured above)
The American Star Awards represent the best of the best among thousands of American FFA Degree recipients. The award recognizes FFA members who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through the completion of a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program. A required activity in FFA, an SAE allows members to learn by doing. Members can own and operate an agricultural business, intern at an agricultural business or conduct an agriculture-based scientific experiment and report the results.
Other requirements to achieve the award include demonstrating top management skills; completing key agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements; and earning an American FFA Degree, the organization's highest level of student accomplishment.
A panel of judges will interview the finalists and select one winner from each award category for the 93rd National FFA Convention & Expo, which will be held virtually this fall. The four winners will be announced during the convention.
Case IH, Elanco Animal Health and Syngenta sponsor the American FFA Degree recognition program.
The finalists include:
American Star Farmer
Cole Ketterling of Wishek, N.D.
Nole Gerfen of Marion, Ohio
JaLeigh Reneé Oldenburg of Mulhall, Okla.
Mikara Anderson of Three Springs, Penn.
American Star in Agribusiness
William Kellum of Jefferson, Ga.
Ely Matthew Boulds of Eldorado, Ill.
Hannah York of Fredonia, Ky.
Blake Kirchhoff of Hardy, Neb.
American Star in Agriscience
Lauren Roberts of Trenton, Fla.
Maddie Sue Fugate of Mahomet, Ill.
Nicole Stevens of Yukon, Okla.
Jacob Bagby of Stephenville, Texas
American Star in Agricultural Placement
Ryan Adelbert Stewart of Washington, Kan.
Will Shelby of Madill, Okla.
Cole James Schock of Salem, S.D.
Wilson Nugent of Gilmer, Texas
Visit FFA.org/stars for more information about the American Star Awards.
The National FFA Organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to more than 700,000 student members who belong to one of the more than 8,600 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization is also supported by more than 8 million alumni and supporters throughout the U.S.
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