Hiland FFA soil team places ninth in state competition

The Rural and Urban Land Evaluation FFA State Soil Competition took place Tuesday, Oct. 14, and among the 50 teams competing was the Hiland High School quintet, which had won the district competition to advance.

The quartet of Ethan Wise, Emily Wise, Quincy Schneider and Dane Gerber competed as a team in the rural soil competition. Kaitlyn Winterborne advanced as a top-placer in the urban soil contest.

The competition consists of each individual investigating four different soil pits. Every participant received 20 minutes at each station to explore the soil and record what they saw, as well as 20 minutes to test at two different testing stations.

The team scores were then cumulated, and when the last session was complete, Hiland had earned a top-10 finish, placing ninth overall.

“Without question, proper preparation geared our kids up for this,” said Hiland FFA advisor Jeff Blakley. “I think the way we finished at districts and the strong placements we had there really got the kids motivated.”

So much so that Blakley said the trip to Headwaters Educational Center in Morrow County wasn’t filled with discussion of the normal teen activities and chatter or with heads buried in phones or video games, but rather deep discussion on the competition.

“It was all about soils,” Blakley said with a laugh. ‘They were so focused and prepared, and they really went above and beyond in getting ready for it. That will put a smile on any teacher’s face.”

For senior Ethan Wise, this trip to the state competition marks his fourth trek, a journey that began in his freshman year and never stopped. He now has four plaques on the FFA wall, and his participation is now the stuff of legends.

“When I first started my freshman year, everything was by the book, meaning that I was reading the book and definitions all the way to the competition to learn,” Wise said. “Each year after that, it became more and more natural to me.”

Once he got in the groove, Wise became a mentor to all the younger team members, including his younger sister Emily Wise, who is a sophomore this year. They were joined by an all-underclass team that included junior Schneider and freshman Gerber. Then there was Winterborne, who carved a spot out at the competition by being the top individual qualifier in the urban soil judging contest, where she performed admirably.

“This really is a total team effort,” Ethan Wise said, noting that each team had 20 minutes per station to figure things out and had to do so on their own because there is no talking or communication of any kind. “That’s why the preparation is so important.”

Wise said he enjoyed helping the younger students earn their stripes over the years and said leaving behind a legacy shows that he has worked hard at his craft.

“I’d like to think that over the years I’ve grown a lot and helped others grow and reach their potential,” Wise said.

Blakley said that is absolutely the case, and he commended not only the five competitors who reached the state level but the entire team, all of whom performed very well at the district competition.

For Hiland FFA, this event has become a regular activity, and Blakley said the interest in soils continues to develop as the class experiences growing success over the past several years, being one of the few schools that consistently attends the state event.

“We’re definitely climbing the ranks of schools known for competing well in this judging,” Blakley said. “I think the kids are motivated by the success we’re experiencing, and that only drives them to want to achieve even more year after year.”

He said the success has allowed him to invest in better equipment that helps his students record all the necessary information on the soil pits, which provides more accuracy.

“Since the teams have done so well over the years, I figured they probably deserved the best equipment possible to help them succeed,” Blakley said.

With this scintillating finish this year, the bar has been set even higher for a school program that seems bent on becoming one of the state’s premier FFA soil judging teams.