As Tess Seibel stepped down as the State President of the Virginia FFA Association, her sister Claire was selected to serve as the 2018-2019 State Vice President.
Tess and Claire and seven other members of the Lord Botetourt FFA attended the State FFA Convention June 26-29 at Virginia Tech where Claire Seibel was elected to the state office.
Reagan Hall won her way to compete in the National FFA Creed Speaking Competition in Indianapolis, Ind. in October, while the Agricultural Mechanics Team, consisting of Matthew Henninger, Tucker Grimshaw, Brian Watts and J.P Whorley, will compete in the Eastern Regionals in West Springfield, Mass. in September.
Other LBHS FFA members at the state convention were Maddie Badgley, Linsey Baker, Lauren Gentry, Jacob Powers, Faith Settle and Aviana Wilson.
At the convention, members competed in various Career Development Events including Agricultural Mechanics, Dairy Judging, Horse Hippology and Employment Skills. They also attended various sessions, where they received awards and were able to hear many motivational speakers, including a motivating retiring address by Tess Seibel during the week.
Claire Seibel spent much of the week going through a rigorous interview process to run for one of six state FFA offices by the end of the week; all of her hard work paid off when she was elected state vice-president.
Seibel, who has been accepted to Virginia Tech, will defer her first year of college to serve as an advocate for the Virginia FFA Association as she meets and communicates with state and national elected officials.
She will also have the opportunity to attend conventions and various events across the country, lead leadership training workshops across the state and serve as a motivation to FFA members across the state, and travel abroad learning about agriculture in other parts of the world.
Seibel was also named the Virginia State Star in Agriscience, which was based on her research work on her family farm and records kept on these activities. Both she and Tess Seibel were also recognized for winning their respective proficiency award areas and will continue on to be judged at the national level.
The week was also a time for chapters and members to be recognized for their accomplishments over the past year.
The Lord Botetourt Chapter received a Gold Superior Chapter recognition, a Gold Rating in Public Relations and a Gold Rating for the Scrap Book which was compiled by chapter Historian Faith Settles.
Linsey Baker, Matt Henninger and Claire Seibel all received their State FFA Degrees.
Other competitions included Maddie Badgley, Lauren Gentry, Faith Settle and Aviana Wilson placing fourth in the Dairy Judging Competition. Badgley placed fifth high individual overall.
Linsey Baker competed in the Employment Skills and Jacob Powers in the Junior Ag Mechanics as well as a Horse Hippology team.
The Lord Botetourt FFA thanked the Botetourt County FFA Alumni Chapter and everyone that supported the members over the past year by purchasing apple butter, potatoes, chicken BBQ dinners and making donations to the chapter for various events.
