After a long week of working the May Day Fair, the FFA Dairy Judging team traveled to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the California State Association FFA State Finals on May 5-6 and won first place, securing a spot at the National FFA Convention.   The Dairy Cattle Evaluation Team consists of Brooklyn Silva (11), Matthew Pacheco (11), Karley Rocha (9), and Zoey Wooten (9).

Mr. Stuart McCullough, FFA Dairy Advisor said, “With 18 finishes from 2^nd to 4^th over the last 26 years, our team rose to a new level and won the contest and brought the title home to the community of Los Banos.  It was a complete Team effort as each student on the team made an improvement in an area that we discussed after the CSU Fresno contest.”

Those improvements made by each student added up to enough points to land two of team members in the top 5 Individuals Overall with Matthew Pacheco placing 2^nd and Karley Rocha placing 3^rd and enough points for the team to edge out Turlock HS FFA by a narrow three points.

With the win in Cal Poly, the team advances to the National Contest held at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis at the end of October.  According to Mr. McCullough, there is a lot of preparation these students will have to do in order to be ready to represent California.

Mr. McCullough also shared, “On a historical note.  This is the first Dairy Cattle Evaluation Team from the Los Banos FFA Chapter to win the State Championship since 1963.  Another cool fact is that team was coached by Dr. Joe Cox.”

Please congratulate the team as they prepare for nationals.