News

Bottineau High School's FFA Land Judging team receives fourth place overall at Nationals

By Heather Milbrath

05/22/2012

Seven Bottineau FFA members, along with advisor Gerald Wettlaufer, attended the National FFA Land Judging Contest, which took place in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The Bottineau chapter placed first at the State Land Judging Contest last August, which qualified them for the national contest.

They departed from Bottineau April 30, and returned May 4. This was the 61st annual FFA Land Judging contest. During the contest, participants had to determine the topsoil and subsoil type, as well as slope. From this information, they also had to determine what actions the landowners should take to preserve the soil. The Land Judging contest is very hands-on, and contestants must be able to apply the knowledge they studied.

There were 95 teams competing in the national contest from 38 states. The Bottineau team did very well, placing fourth overall. The members who participated were Joey Hackman, Ty Domben, Jesse Klebe, Seth Bartholomay, and alternates Madison Klebe and Phillip Neubauer.

“For them to score this high in this contest is quite an accomplishment,” Wettlaufer, Bottineau FFA Advisor, said. “It is very, very competitive and the southern teams are very good year in and year out. It is tough to beat them in their own backyard.”

President Jesse Klebe feels the team improved “leaps and bounds” since state last August. Jesse Klebe showed his own leadership as president by bringing in first place individually beating out hundreds of other competitors. Jesse Klebe was one of two in the whole contest to get a perfect score.

There was some initial confusion, however, about Jesse Klebe’s test. When the scores were first tallied, Jesse Klebe’s test was not even counted because his scorecards got lost.

“When they called out the top ten, and my name wasn’t called, I was shocked,” Jesse Klebe said. “We had compared my card to the key, and I knew I had gotten them all right.”

“I felt bad for the team members as they did not get called to the stage to receive their awards at the banquet,” Wettlaufer said. “A big part of the excitement is to be up there receiving your awards in front of the entire group and they did not get to experience that.”

Prior to the error being fixed, the Bottineau team placed 16th. Once Jesse Klebe’s score was added, it bumped the team up to fourth place.

“We spent a lot of time studying,” Jesse Klebe said. “But it wasn’t like we spent the whole trip with our noses in the books.”

The group also toured the Oklahoma City National Memorial, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Omniplex and the Oklahoma City Zoo.

This contest is a good introduction to agronomy and soil science, which Jesse Klebe feels could be a potential career path for him. Domben also feels that this experience will help him in pursuing a career in agriculture.

“The team and myself would certainly like to say ‘thank you’ to the many groups that helped us with monetary donations for the trip,” Wettlaufer said. “It was a wonderful, educational trip and getting results like we earned makes it much more fun and exciting.”