Students of the Strom Thurmond Career Center FFA Chapter spent their Thursday evening last week in Chester County South Carolina competing in the South Carolina Mid-State Region Tractor Operations Competition.  Not only did the team finish the competition in first place, but senior FFA member Colton Kirkland was able to complete the event as the highest scoring individual.  Kirkland completed the entire course in less than one minutes and twenty-five seconds with no deductions resulting in a perfect score.  Students in the Tractor Operations Career Development Event, earn the opportunity to demonstrate their technical knowledge as it relates to the operation of a tractor and trailer.

Students tested their knowledge through a driving course in which they had to not only pull a landscaping trailer, but also back it perfectly centered into a shoot.

The team will now travel to Columbia South Carolina in October to compete in the South Carolina FFA State Tractor Operations Career Development Event.  Members of the Strom Thurmond team were: Colton Kirkland, Cody Borden, Logan Pollock, Jimmy Foley and Jacob Smith.  Their coach and advisor is Mr. J. Brooks.

The National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national youth organization of 523,309 student members as part of 7,487 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The National FFA Organization operates under a Federal Charter granted by the 81st United States Congress, and it is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture. The U.S. Department of Education provides leadership and helps set direction for FFA as a service to state and local agricultural education programs. For more information visit www.ffa.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information regarding the agriculture program at Strom Thurmond Career Center, contact Jeremy Brooks or Darla Steele at the school, (803) 275-1767 or visit the agriculture program website at www.stromthurmondffa.com.