For the third year in a row and the fourth of the last five, Marietta FFA’s ag mechanics class has won the FFA Chapter Sweepstakes. Along with the big win comes a traveling trophy, on which the names of winning schools are engraved. As much time as that trophy has spent in Marietta during the past five years, advisor Josh Bazor should probably build it a case.
The ag mechanics class was overall state winner in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. In 2020, the state fair was suspended due to Covid.
Ag mechanics projects are designed and constructed by students and are eligible to enter the contest in the year after they were built. After being shown, the items are sold to provide a beginning budget for the next year’s projects.
Jesus Venegas is this year’s state winner in the hobby/recreation category. His entry was a shooting table built to use to sight in guns. What put the basic idea over the top, according to Bazor was the adjustable seating, making the table comfortable for use by people of different heights, and the care with which Venegas finished the project.
State runners-up were Daniel Buenrostro in the division for trailers less than 16 feet, Devon Smith in shop improvement, and Kadence Bazor in outdoor furniture.
Additionally, the chapter had several other placings. Those include:
- Wyatt Gwin, third place, shop improvement
- Brianna Robles, third place, patio cookers
- Alex Santibanez, fourth place, large decorative
- Jessica Bates, fourth place, livestock production
- Wyatt Vinson, fifth place, shop improvement
- Brody Bazor, seventh place, large decorative
- Hunter Roe, ninth place, large decorative, and
- Hailee Fleitman, tenth place, large decorative
When you establish a tradition of winning, continuing to do so year in and out becomes more difficult. For one thing, you enter the contest with a target on your back and everybody wants to beat you. But that’s not the only reason.
“Getting original ideas is harder every year,” Bazor said. “Either creating something new or taking something that’s already done and making it different or better is always a struggle.”
Another challenge, especially this year, has been the rising cost of metal and other supplies. Most students incorporate metal into their products, and some are constructed completely from metal.
“Financing the projects has become an issue,” explained Bazor. “What we have to buy costs about four times what it was.”
In years past, chapter members didn’t think much about building a trailer or other large project. Now they have to think about whether it’s the best use of their materials. And while that might be a good life lesson for students, it stifles creativity.
This year, the chapter is building a truck bed. The materials cost alone is $3,200.
“If we didn’t have some people who are donating materials to help us, we’d have a harder time than we already do,” Bazor added. “We are grateful to those people who help us keep improving our projects every year.”
But as long as it’s possible, the chapter will continue to create and build projects in their ag mechanics class, and hopefully keep taking them to the state fair where they’ll continue to dominate the sweepstakes contest. And the best thing is that winning the state contest is a byproduct of Bazor’s original aim for creating the class.
“The skills that these kids are developing in ag mechanics, those are tools that will allow them to go out into the world ready to get a job and become a productive, tax-paying citizen,” Bazor said with pride. “That’s always been one of the main goals of our program.”