Twenty-six of the 49 students who completed AgriScience Projects were recommended by a panel of seven judges to move on to the State FFA Competition at the PA Farm Show in January.

The FFA Agriscience Fair is a national competition sponsored by the FFA. Participation begins at the local level and progresses to state and national levels. Students must conduct a scientific research project pertaining to the agriculture and food science industries and present their findings to a panel of judges with a display and a report.

Facing the judges, each student explained how they developed their experiment, conducted the scientific investigation and what their results and conclusions were for their projects.

“I am so glad I get to experience going to states again. We always have a really good time whenever we go. It feels great to get the opportunity to experience this,” said sophomore MaKenna LaRosa.

“I’m really excited to go to states; this is my first time participating and competing in an FFA event,” said Brandon Ixtepan-Ramirez. He utilized the school’s greenhouse and LabQuest equipment received through a grant to conduct his experiment on growing tomatoes in various soils.

Some students put all of their information on a display board, while others created a PowerPoint presentation.

“This year we had a student committee who was in charge of organizing the event, but also setting SMART Goals on what they wanted to be accomplished for the program.  Two of their goals they current exceeded – the number of students participating and the number who qualified for states,” said Tyrone’s agricultural educator, Mrs. Tiffany Hoy.

At the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest indoor agricultural exposition in the nation, the following students will compete and present their projects at the state level:

Brooke Welsh, Jacey Whitcomb, Bree Weaver, Reilly Ronan, Katelyn Richards, Taylor Laber, Zach Neff, Haley Miller, Marlyna Borman, Taylor Pighetti, Anna Beck, Elaina Gleason, Alex Miller, MaKenna LaRosa, Ava Focht, Natalie Berrena-Barr, Isaac Parks, Logan Johnston, Jacob Price, Jaylon Beck, Maddie Veit, David Conrad, Travis Yazzie, Brandon Ixtepan-Ramirez, Zachary Patterson and Daniel Peterson.