Members of Jacksonville High School\u2019s FFA chapter have earned several regional, state and national\u00a0FFA awards during the past year, according to the chapter.<\/p>\n
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Member Alex\u00a0Lansaw received the American FFA Degree, the highest honor awarded by the National FFA Organization. It is earned by less than 1% of the national organization\u2019s members and recognizes dedication to agricultural education, supervised agricultural experiences and leadership development.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA member\u00a0Alex Lansaw has earned his American FFA Degree.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Lansaw will be recognized in October during the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
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Member\u00a0Addie Taylor earned the State FFA Degree, the highest honor bestowed by Illinois Association FFA. The degree, awarded to less than 3% of state FFA members, recognizes Taylor\u2019s involvement in supervised agricultural experiences, leadership and community service.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA member Addie Taylor has earned her State FFA Degree.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Taylor will be recognized in June during the Illinois State\u00a0FFA Convention in Springfield.<\/p>\n
Brayden Richardson was named the chapter\u2019s Star Greenhand in recognition of his commitment as a first-year member.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA member Brayden Richardson has been named the chapter’s Star Greenhand for his commitment as a first-year member.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Junior Abby White and sophomore\u00a0Carsyn Delong received Blue Jackets, Gold Standards awards for exemplifying dignity, leadership, compassion, and a strong work ethic.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA member Abby White has earned a Blue Jackets, Gold Standards award for exemplifying dignity, leadership, compassion and a strong work ethic.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Jacksonville FFA member Carsyn Delong has earned a Blue Jackets, Gold Standards award for exemplifying dignity, leadership, compassion and a strong work ethic.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Braden Hutchison received the Fortschneider Agriculture Award for his passion for agriculture. The award honors former JHS agriculture teacher Bill Fortschneider.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA member Braden Hutchison has been presented with the Fortschneider Award in recognition of his passion for agriculture.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Nine members received a Chapter Degree, the highest honor a local chapter can bestow. They include\u00a0Carsyn Delong, Renae Goodel, Brinley Kruger, Lauryn Maher, Josie Meggison, Alex Trace, Abby White, Riley White and Finley York.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen members received\u00a0Greenhand Degrees, awarded to first-year members who demonstrated knowledge of FFA history, recited the FFA Creed and began their SAE projects. They include Grayce Chambers, Wyatt Conover, Emrick Davidsmeyer, Lexi Frost, John Harper, Eva Jenkins, Lily Jones, Austyn Lakamp, Kole Law, Kruz Law, Beckham Oldnettel, Brayden Richardson, Sophia Tobin, Spencer Vedder and Brooke White.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville High School FFA members also excelled in career development events showcasing their agricultural knowledge and technical skills in competition.<\/p>\n
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The meat evaluation\u00a0CDE team placed first overall in sectionals and eighth overall in state competition. Top performers included Abby White, John Harper, Carsyn Delong, Grace McFadden and Emrick Davidsmeyer.<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA’s meat judging CDE team includes Carsyn Delong (from left), Grace McFadden, Abby White, John Harper and Emrick Davidsmeyer.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
In forestry\u00a0CDE, the varsity team earned first overall in sectionals, led by Lauryn Maher, Wyatt Conover, Emrick Davidsmeyer and Brinley Kruger. The Greenhand team also performed strongly, placing third overall.<\/p>\n
The chapter was represented across various technical categories in agriculture mechanics\u00a0CDE by Emrick Davidsmeyer (welding), Brayden Richardson (power, second overall) and John Harper (electrical). Richardson finished second overall in sectionals.<\/p>\n
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In public speaking\u00a0CDE, Abby White placed third in varsity extemporaneous speaking, Carsyn Delong earned first place in junior varsity extemporaneous speaking, Brayden Richardson placed second in Greenhand extemporaneous speaking, and Austyn Lakamp competed in creed speaking.<\/p>\n
The agronomy and dairy food sciences\u00a0CDE teams also demonstrated strong skills across both varsity and greenhand levels.<\/p>\n
Several members also participated in Leadership Training School, with the\u00a0LTS Quiz Bowl team earning second place overall. The team consisted of Carsyn Delong, Brinley Kruger, Lauryn Maher, Addie Taylor, Alex Trace, Riley White, Abby White and Finley York.<\/p>\n
Carsyn Delong, Grace McFadden and Josie Meggison also demonstrated professionalism in career readiness skills while participating in the job interview CDE.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThese accomplishments reflect the dedication, leadership, and work ethic of our members,\u201d chapter adviser Mark Dyer said. \u201cWe are proud of the impact these students are making in agriculture and in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville FFA’s 2026-27 executive leadership team will include President Abby White (from left), Vice President Carsyn DeLong, Secretary Josie Meggison, Treasurer Alex Trace, Reporter Eva Jenkins, Sentinel\u00a0Brayden Richardson, Historian Brooke White and Chaplain Austyn Lakamp.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jacksonville FFA<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u00a0FFA\u2019s 2026-27 officer team will include President Abby White, Vice President Carsyn Delong, Secretary Josie Meggison, Treasurer Alex Trace, Reporter Eva Jenkins, Sentinel Brayden Richardson, Historian Brooke White and Chaplain Austyn Lakamp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Jacksonville High School\u2019s FFA chapter have earned several regional, state and national\u00a0FFA awards during the past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4613,116,118,117,115,278],"class_list":["post-257674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-breakingnews","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}