Nine students from the Wayne FFA Chapter traveled on a charter bus with students from Mead, Winside, and Arlington to attend this year's National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The group left Nebraska on Oct. 27 and returned on Oct. 31.
Students attending this year's convention included Regan Fernau, Reagan McGuire, Jordyn Gamble, Reese Rethwisch, Payton Junck, Noah Magnuson, Taven Ocampo, Drew Reinhardt and Graycen Trautman. They were accompanied by Advisor Toni Rasmussen.
In addition, the Wayne FFA Horse Judging team, which was made up of Claire Lutter, Elijah Stecki Drew Miller and Lanee Rethwisch, with Allan Brenner as alternate, flew with Angie Rethwisch to the convention.
The Horse Judging contest challenges participants to apply their equine knowledge in multiple areas.
“We all will start out with live judging. You go through performance classes and halter classes,” Rethwisch explained. “And then we did a video keep-cull class. And then we go into reasons.”
At the convention, the Horse Judging team earned a gold medal.
Individually, Lanee Rethwisch earned a gold medal and a seventh place nationally; Audrey Lutter - gold; Drew Miller - silver; and Elijah Stecki - bronze.
The nine students on the bus toured Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg, Iowa on the way to the convention. On the way back to Nebraska, the group went to Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana.
The Wayne FFA Chapter was also recognized for receiving the National Chapter Award and earning two of three stars. This is based on the activities the chapter takes part in throughout the year.
