On October 16 The Wellington FFA Chapter went to Kingman, Kansas to compete in the South Central District Horse Judging Career Development Event.  The students learned about how to judge horses based on their confirmation, and also based on how they perform being ridden in various performance events in Agriculture Education classes.  They took the skills they learned and applied them in a real world setting by judging six classes of horses and giving oral reasons. (Oral reasons are a short explanation of why they placed the horses the way they did).

This competition begins building public speaking skills, technical skills and evaluation skills.  This year is the first year for 8th grade students from Wellington to be able to be members in FFA and to compete in events. There were 14 WMS 8th graders that competed.  The team placed 2nd out of 8 teams in the Junior Division.  High placing individuals were Jade Pearson placing 1st, Katelyn Kessler placing 6th, Landyn Glenn placed 14th, and Kenny Redford placing 20th.  There were 40 individuals in the Junior division.

In the Greenhand Division which is for Freshmen or first year high school students in Agriculture Education, the team placed 3rd overall out of 23 teams.  Michaela Stufflebeam placed 3rd, Elly DeJarnett placed 12th, Ashlyn Gerten placed 42nd and Kadance Wise placed 44th.  There were 130 students judging in the Greenhand Division.

In the Chapter Division which is for students that are Sophomores to Seniors that have had one or more years of Agriculture Education, the team placed 9th out of 27 teams.  Kaitlyn Hain placed 10th, Nevin Gageby placed 38th, Hunter Norris Placed 39th, and Kyleigh Gould placed 43rd.  Students in this division had to give 2 sets of oral reasons.  There were 80 students competing in the Chapter division of Horse Judging.