North Shelby teenagers to compete on the national stage and continue FFA legacy
The win was decades in the making. When the four teenagers stepped forward to accept their first-place plaque for months of hard work, they were following in the footsteps of their families and showcasing the dedication of a revered agricultural education teacher.
The North Shelby FFA chapter has seen countless successes over the years. The hallway outside the agriculture education classroom is plastered with awards for honors from the local, district, state and national levels. But the chapter is legendary for victories in the agricultural mechanics career development event, which tests students at everything from welding to electrical wiring.
Against 44 teams, the four took first place at the 2024 Missouri FFA Convention. Next up, they will compete at the National FFA Convention, which takes place Oct. 23-26 in Indianapolis. The team, all members of Macon Electric Cooperative, is Aden Johnston, Austin Wilson, Andi Belt and Aliza Yoder (hence “The A Team” nickname). They were led by Harold Eckler, one of North Shelby’s advisors.
“This group is kind of our legacy group because their families all competed in this contest at a high level,” Harold says. “This contest is a tradition here. It’s hard to start a tradition, but it’s even harder to beat a tradition. We’re very fortunate to have this tradition.”
This year’s team will be the 18th Harold has taken to the national contest level during his 40-year teaching career. Six of those 18 teams took first place. As far as family legacy, Andi and Aliza’s dads each placed second individually in the national competition when they competed in the late 1990s. Austin’s dad earned first place individual at the state contest in the early 1990s, and Aden’s brother was in the top five individual placing at the national contest in 2014.
Harold Eckler, left, says the agricultural mechanics contest helps students explore careers: “A lot of our students who have competed are farmers or work in engineering, construction and energy.”
The agricultural mechanics contest involves students applying classroom knowledge to real-life situations. The students take a written exam, perform a team event, demonstrate problem-solving skills and complete hands-on activities related to compact equipment, electricity, natural resources, machinery and structures. They score individually and then overall as a team.
Austin Wilson wires a switch into a junction box. The electrical systems portion of the contest can involve anything from matching sizes of wires to their use to calculating the cost of power.
The contest is complex and provides exposure to many potential careers for high school students, says Keith Dietzschold, Missouri FFA Association state advisor. “This particular career development event provides real-world experience because of all the technical skills needed for students to be successful,” he says. “Plus, they put all that together and work as a team to solve a problem.”
The North Shelby students learned the contest basics in their agricultural construction and agricultural power class. From January to April, they practiced from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. every weekday. This level of dedication wasn’t new, as the four had competed on four previous contest teams together (competing well each time).
Andi Belt practices her MIG welding skills for the contest.
“People ask me, ‘Do you ever get tired of practicing?’ ” Aliza says. “Yeah, it can be exhausting, but it’s worth it in the long run knowing the lifelong bond the four of us have now and the success we’ve had; it’s 100% worth it.”
The four are spending their next few years in Columbia at the University of Missouri. Aden is majoring in mechanical engineering, Austin in plant science, Andi in agricultural education–teaching certification and Aliza in both plant science and ag systems technology. Their time in FFA is pushing them toward careers in agriculture, likely using some of the skills they’ve honed during their deep dive in this particular contest.
You can learn about Missouri FFA at missouriffa.org. Follow North Shelby FFA at www.facebook.com/NorthShelbyAgEdFFA.