Kewanee High School’s FFA members had a big day at Black Hawk College East Campus last week, participating in veterinary science and career development programs.
The morning started with KHS earning second place at the Section 3 Veterinary Sciences Career Development event. Students participated in several rotations, showcasing the skills they had learned this fall. Areas of the competition included identifying small and large animal breeds, naming common parasites, completing a math and veterinary knowledge exam, exhibiting two clinical procedures and two animal handling practicums.
Team members were Isabella Guzman (high individual overall), Kelsey Scott (fifth overall), Casey Johnson (top 15), Hallee Murphy, Summer Simmons, Cheyenne Orwig and Lain Taylor
In the afternoon, Kewanee FFA joined Black Hawk College East Campus to host the Hog Capital Horse Judging Contest in conjunction with the Section 3 Horse Evaluation Career Development Event.
More than 150 students evaluated six live horse classes. Kewanee FFA members competed and gave two sets of oral reasons, defending why they marked the classes as they did.
Students on Kewanee’s fourth-place team included Mikayla Ouart (3rd), Tripp Reiker (9th), Jonah Janey (top 15) and Max Wager and Evelyn Favela (top 20).
“The success of both of these teams took a village,” KHS ag teacher Kindra Callahan said.
“One aspect we want to highlight is how the Ag Science Center at KHS has made practices more effective,” Callahan said. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, KHS hosted both teams.
“The advantage of dedicated space in the animal science lab for the practicum setup and multiple screens to watch horse classes in the Rodney Dorman Classroom made a great impact on how these students prepared,” Callahan said.
