CV FFA Members Garner Awards at the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show

HARRISBURG, Pa—Mackenzie Yorlets was named the winner of the Pennsylvania FFA State Star in Agricultural Production at the recent PA Farm Show.

The statewide honor is one of several awards earned by 27 Cumberland Valley High School FFA members during the 87^th Pennsylvania FFA Mid-Winter Convention, which is held at the PA Farm Show.

Mackenzie and 10 other Senior FFA members received their Keystone FFA Degrees and 16 first-year members from Cumberland Valley received FFA jackets.

The State Star program is given to an FFA Keystone Degree recipient who exhibits premier leadership, personal growth, and career success as demonstrated through a Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) program and involvement in the FFA chapter.

Mackenzie qualified in the Agriculture Production category because her SAEs are raising and selling Market Steers, Market Goats, Market Hogs, Breeding Beef, and Poultry. She first was named the South-Central Regional Star in November and competed against 3 other regional stars to win the state title.

Mackenzie recognized for earning the PA FFA State Star
in Agriculture Production.

Keystone Degree Winners

Mackenzie also earned her Keystone Degree along with fellow Cumberland Valley FFA members Ethan Cohn, Alicia Gates, Emiliann Goodhart, Marlin Hoover, Megan McGee, Cheyenne Murlatt, Megan Myers, Nate Short, Carley Shuckhart, and Wyatt Williams.

The Keystone Degree is the fourth of five degrees FFA members can earn. Only 387 FFA members out of 10,732 in the state received the degree this year.

To earn the honor, FFA members must hold the Greenhand, Chapter, and Area FFA Degrees; perform at least 25 hours of community service, earn or invest $1,000.00 or work 300 hours outside of school in their SAE program; participate in 15 FFA activities with 5 of them above the chapter level; and demonstrate leadership and advocacy of agriculture and FFA.

The Cumberland Valley FFA Keystone Degree Recipients pose with Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding (left) and Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera (right). Recipients are Cheyenne Murlatt, Nate Short, Megan Myers, Carley Shuckhart, Emiliann Goodhart, Wyatt Williams, Alicia Gates, Mackenzie Yorlets, Marlin Hoover, Ethan Cohn, and Megan McGee.

FFA Jacket Winners

Sixteen Cumberland Valley first-year FFA members earned their blue corduroy FFA Jacket: Terrin Brammer, Calvin Dale, Courtney Davis, Daniel DeRosa, Taylor Hanson, Gabriel Hartman, Tyler Heckert, Caleb Kissinger, Sage Kuhn, Dakota Lauckner, Brenna Lettich, Ben Miskin, Meade Montgomery, Demi Murcavage, Nina Vietze, and Nick Wagner.

The first-year jacket campaign is sponsored by the Pennsylvania FFA Alumni, which provides the jackets to students free of charge. To qualify, students must write about what the jacket and FFA means to them and what they plan to achieve while wearing it.

Freshman Brenna Lettich writes, “The jacket has been worn by students like me for the past 80 years—I hope to work hard to achieve all I can and that the jacket will take me on an experience that leads me to my future.”

First-year jacket recipients gather for a photo before the Mid-Winter Convention
begins. Each member was provided a jacket free of charge after submitting an
essay about the FFA jacket and FFA organization.