MENDOTA - Two Mendota FFA members recently competed in the Section 7 FFA proficiency interviews, which were held in a virtual format this year due to the global pandemic. Section, District and State FFA proficiency awards are based on a student’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects. SAEs are a student work experience focused in agriculture and conducted outside of the classroom setting.

An SAE program is an integral part of an agriculture program that is conducted under the supervision of the agriculture teacher and the student’s parents or employer. Approximately 50 proficiency areas exist ranging from Agricultural Communications to Wildlife Production & Management.

Mendota High School junior Elizabeth Schillinger competed in the area of Vegetable Production. As part of her SAE, Elizabeth grows a variety of pumpkins, gourds, squash, and Indian Corn. She is responsible for selecting her seeds, preparing the seedbed, planting, managing pests, harvesting and marketing her crop. As the Section 7 winner in this area, she will compete in the District 2 interviews held virtually the week of March 8.

Jack Beetz, a senior at MHS, competed in three areas at the section level. His projects involve working for the family farming operation. He helps with the production of corn, soybeans, seed corn and hay. He also works at two grain elevators in area weighing, drying, cleaning and marketing grain. Jack competed in Ag Sales – Placement for his work at the elevators and in Specialty Crop Production for his work with the production of seed corn. He interviewed and won in the area of Diversified Crop Production – Placement, which involved all of his work in all of his SAE enterprises. In addition to competing in Diversified Crop Production – Placement at the District level, Jack will also compete as the Section 7 Star in Agricultural Placement.

District 2 comprises Section 6-10, which includes approximately 70 agriculture programs throughout northeastern Illinois. The district winner will advance to the State proficiency interviews to compete against the other four district winners.

For more information about SAEs, Proficiency Awards or agricultural education, please contact your local agriculture teacher/FFA Advisor or go online to www.ilaged.org.