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Gray Middle School Wins 2012 Horse Evaluation CDE

Friday, February 3, 2012

FFA members from Gray Middle School won first place at the Middle School Horse Evaluation hosted by the Florida FFA Association on Jan. 21 at Jackson Agricultural Center in Mariana, Fla.

The competition included 20 teams from throughout the state. In addition to its first place, team members individually scored well. Kolbi Napier placed second and Kristen Larson took home fifth place. Other team members included Maryn Neuhofer, Jordan Peterson and Jillian Phillips.

"FFA is an amazing organization that rewards students for their efforts," said Casey Ferguson, Gray Middle School FFA Advisor. "These young ladies spent countless hours of hard work learning about equine industry and horse selection. I am so proud of their dedication and congratulate each of them for their tremendous success."

Horse Judging is one of the most difficult and arduous of Career Development Events (CDE). It measures students' knowledge on every aspect of horses, their breeds, uses and conformation of same. At the national competition, competitors performed live horse judging in four halter classes and four performance classes. Each competitor then presented four sets of oral reasons to live judges, justifying their placement. These speeches were written, memorized and performed in a set amount of time based on the student's memory of each class and their corresponding placements. These are the longest and most numerous oral reasoning requirements of all FFA CDEs.

The Florida FFA Association is a premier youth, leadership organization with more than 15,000 middle and high school student members -- as part of more than 300 local FFA chapters across the state. FFA members participate in nearly 50 leadership and career development events each year. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

FFA members are pictured (left to right) Kristen Larson, Maryn Neuhofer, Kolbi Napier, Jordan Peterson and Jillian Phillips.