Members of the Lexington FFA competed in District 11 Career Development Events in January and February. Those contests included Agronomy and Welding. Competing in Agronomy were Jacob Lans, Evelyn Ramirez, and Emilio Gonzalez. Jacob Lans placed 22nd and received a white ribbon, Evelyn Ramirez placed 42nd, and Emilio Gonzalez placed 59th. As a team, these individuals place as the 13th team. The welding team consisted of Croix Leibert, Hunter Shamburg, Zachary Lorenz, and Emilio Gonzalez and they competed in the district welding contest on February 12th. Croix Leibert competed in the GTAW and placed 2nd and received a purple ribbon. Hunter Shamburg competed in GMAW and placed 3rd and received a purple ribbon. Zachary Lorenz competed in SMAW and placed 9th and received a white ribbon. Emilio Gonzalez competed in OAW and placed 8th and received a white ribbon. The team placed 3rd in the District 11 contest qualifying to compete in the Nebraska Career Development Welding Contest in April.
     The Ag Education welding team competed on April 3rd in Lincoln at Southeast
Community College in the state welding contest. Croix Leibert placed 12th in GTAW, Hunter Shamburg placed 40th, Zachary Lorenz place 41st in SMAW, and Emilio Gonzalez place 46th in OFW. The team placed 40th.
     Members of the Welding 3/Fabrication class traveled to Fort Hays Technical North Central in Beloit, Kansas to compete in a wire welding contest. Those competing were Croix Leibert, Hunter Shamburg, Michael Gill, and Emanual Zuniga-Garcia. There were 168 contestants from Nebraska and Kansas that competed in the event. Croix Leibert placed 40th, Michael Gill placed 44th, Hunter Shamburg placed 45th, and Emanual Zuniga-Garcia placed 102nd. The students completed both a written and practical test for this contest. The team would like to thank the school board for allowing them to attend this event.
     Croix Leibert and Hunter Shamburg competed in the Nebraska SkillsUSA welding contest in Grand Island on April 11th. They had to perform four processes of welding which included oxyfuel cutting, SMAW, GMAW, and GTAW. As of this writing we have not received the results of the contest. Zachary Lorenz competed in the Introduction to Welding contest and placed 3rd.
     Welding students will take a field trip to Unverferth Frontier plant on April 16th during their welding class. They will not only tour the welding plant but will also talk with the manufacturing engineer, field representatives, field testing personnel and the welding supervisor.
     Members of the Lexington FFA have been preparing for their annual plant sale. Since early March they have received rooted plugs and have potted, trimmed and fertilized the plants in the greenhouse. They have also started various vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplant and cabbage. This last week they have started to make hanging baskets.  The plants will be on sale April 21-May 15th from 3:45-5:00pm on weekdays and on Saturdays from 9:00am-noon.
The FFA chapter will hold its annual banquet on April 26th, 6:30pm at the Dawson County Fairgrounds. We will honor members that have excelled, along with members of the community that have supported us this year. Following the banquet will be our labor auction.