East Knox FFA Third in State Urban Soils CDE, Advances to Nationals

Recently, the East Knox FFA Urban Soils Career Development Event team placed third in the state event held on October 14 in Fairfield County at the Lamp Family Farm on Landis Road east of Amanda. The team will now represent Ohio in the National FFA Homesite Evaluation Contest next May in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Urban team members were Hayden Baker, Isabelle Bostic, Weston Bostic, and Rylan Winkler.   Weston Bostic finished as the 5th individual in the state with Baker placing 13th, Winkler finishing 15th, and Isabelle Bostic placing 90th out of 164 competitors from across Ohio.  

East Knox earned a berth in the state urban contest after placing first out of 16 teams in the district 7 contest conducted earlier in Pickaway County near Circleville.  The top five teams from each of the state’s ten FFA districts qualify for the state, making a field of fifty teams.  Individually in the district event, Hayden Baker placed second, Dylan Springer finished sixth, Rylan Winkler placed 10th, Isabelle Bostic was 19th and Weston Bostic finished 27th out of 70 competitors.  

Prior to the district contest East Knox FFA placed fifth in the county event sponsored by the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District and held at the Jerry Mickley Farm near Howard. 

In the urban soil evaluation event, members determine soil slope, landform, flooding hazard, stability, texture at three different levels, structure in the subsoil, drainage class, depth to restrictive features, and depth to bedrock.  This information is used to make recommendations to use the site for houses with basements; sewage treatment systems; driveways and roads; and lawns, gardens, and landscaping. Teams also take a written test over soils and find soil information from the web soil survey.

The top five teams in the State Urban Soils Career Development Event represent Ohio each May at the National Contest in Oklahoma.  East Knox FFA has been in the National Contest 29 times in the past 35 years (the most of any FFA in Ohio).  East Knox FFA has also had a soil team place in the top 10 in the state 37 out of the past 41 years.