By Emily Windham

 

Lakeview FFA traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, to compete at the 90th FFA National Convention Oct. 23-27. Having won the state competition for Nursery/Landscape in March, the team of four students traveled to compete against the best high school horticulture students in the country.

The National Nursery/Landscape Competition is a two day competition that includes: general knowledge of plant identification, tool identification, physiological problems, beneficial and harmful insects, diseases, verbal and written customer assistance, landscape architecture and design, and practical skills (including pre operation, operation, and post operation of chain saws and string trimmers, land surveying, PVC pipe and irrigation repair, sod installation, and more).

Bayli Quick, Kelsey Shoemaker, Tyler Sullivan, and Emily Windham, with the coaching from their advisor, Ryan Riley, studied for almost 7 months to fully prepare themselves to compete Oct. 25-26, in Indianapolis at the 90th National Convention. The students individually each placed Gold emblem meaning they were in the top third of all students in the event. As a team, they finished 7th out of the 37 states represented. The seventh place finish is the highest Louisiana has placed in Nursery/Landscape recent history.

The Lakeview FFA Nursery team would like to thank the following: Corkey Bruce and Mace Morris of Natural Springs Nursery, Rabalais Small Engine Repair, Mike Murphy, Wayland Morgan and Craig Stiffler of North Louisiana Surveying and Mapping, Doug Young Nursery of Forest Hill, River Valley Horticultural Products, Cantrell’s Gardens, and Cantrell Ace Hardware of Little Rock, Arkansas; Westwood Gardens of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Horticultural Services of Manhattan, Kansas, John Kern, Roberta Crabtree, Louisiana Tech University, University of Arkansas, and Kansas State University.

Pictured from left are Advisor Ryan Riley, Tyler Sullivan, Emily Windham, Bayli Quick, and Kelsey Shoemaker.