Justice Frerk of the South O’Brien FFA Chapter was the first-place winner in Ag Mechanics Repair and Maintenance placement, sponsored through the Iowa FFA Foundation Gold Standard Partners. Justice has put in over 1,100 hours as a diesel technician for John Deere Agrivision in Paullina. He began his SAE in the wash bay and has since worked his way up to performing maintenance on nearly every piece of equipment that comes into the shop. Upon graduation, Frerk will attend the John Deere Diesel Technician program at Dordt University.
Justice stated “ I was very excited to receive this award. I am thankful to Mr. Kumm for urging me to fill out the application, and for helping me along the way.”
100% of FFA members have proficiencies as part of the agricultural program and the FFA. These proficiencies range in the areas of Agricultural Communications to Service Learning and from Diversified Agricultural Production to Swine Production. Proficiency Award winners have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Programs. These awards encourage members to develop specialized skills that will apply toward a future career. State winners advance to the National FFA competition where they will compete against winners from the other State FFA Associations. The four national finalists that are selected from each area will be recognized at the National FFA Convention and Expo in October.