After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Fox Valley Technical College was excited to host hundreds of Wisconsin high school students at the 2022 FVTC Future Farmers of America (FFA) Career Development Event.

In late March, more than 500 students from 43 different high schools came to campus for the day-long event. Working in teams, the students had 14 different competitive events to choose from. The contests included such areas as ag sales, forestry, horse science, livestock judging and veterinary science.

Due to social distancing and group size requirements, this year’s contest was slightly modified. Before the pandemic, an unlimited number of schools and students could compete. This year, a virtual screener contest was held in early March and the top 12 four-person teams in each category advanced by coming to campus.

Agribusiness instructor Nick Schneider helped organize the FFA event. After the two-year absence, Nick called the return to an in-person event energizing. “With the smaller number of competitors, the contest superintendents—which are FVTC faculty and community volunteers—were able to spend more one-on-one time with the competitors. The goal was to turn the event into more than a competition and make it also a valuable learning experience.”

Students traveled from schools throughout the FVTC district and from as far away as Elk Mound, Mosinee, Pardeeville and Southern Door high schools.