On Thursday, September 10, Jacksonville High School’s FFA chapter hosted the Section 13 FFA CDE (Chapter Development Event) “Horse Judging.” The members of the FFA team judged and critiqued the following six different classes: Western Halter, Western Pleasure, English Halter, English Pleasure, Western Tack Identification and English Tack Identification.  There were eight teams competing and approximately 125 FFA members.  They are also preparing for “Forestry Judging” which is the next upcoming CDE. They will have ten more CDE’s coming up to prepare for. Mr. Kenny Dufelmeier, the advisor of JHS’s FFA chapter said that he is “excited for this year’s FFA chapter. On their first outing of the year, very seldom do kids come back with that sort of win this early in the year!”

Jacksonville’s Varsity Team (10^th-12^th) won first place with Katelyn Tabit winning first place individual! There were 20 JHS FFA members competing. They all did a great job and set the bar high with the first CDE of the year. Everyone is excited and preparing for the next competition and hoping to do well!  Dufelmeier said, “We don’t just go to win; we go to learn, gain experience and meet new people. Our goal is to be successful not just to be the number one team. We always try to set the bar high, and we never shoot too low because we practice and work hard to get above that goal.”

Jacksonville’s Greenhand Team (freshman only) took first place also. Annie Jackson won first place individual, Blake Hadden took second individual, and Austin Dufelmeier took third place individual. There are six members total of the Greenhand team. They are also preparing for the next CDE and hoping to do well. Congratulations to all the FFA members!

Dufelmeier said, “I thought the kids did amazing. I couldn’t be more proud of them. The kids had practiced in school and out, and it really paid off!” He is very excited this upcoming year and can’t wait to see what it has in store for them!