With less than five months of study, four agriculture student members of the Elizabethton High School FFA clinched a 4th place title at the Tennessee State Nursery and Landscape Career Development Event on April 26. The group had previously placed in 2nd in regional competition before moving on to Nashville to compete for the state title at Tennessee State University.

EHS junior students Heather Estep, Maddie Jaynes and Cheyenne Bowers and senior Nathan Batchelder along with their teacher Carrie Lykins participated in the event, which according to a statement released by Lykins was very vigorous.

“The contest lasted nine hours and included general knowledge exams, propagation skills test, identification, landscape estimation, written and verbal customer service, and team activity,” said Lykins in her statement.

The contest was modeled after a work model of someone actually employed as an agriculturist. “Anything you can imagine what the job is, is what this competition encompassed,” said Lykins.

When asked what interested the students in agriculture, all said they wanted to do something outdoors, and credited their teacher Lykins with further sparking their interest in the field.

“I have always been interested in [agriculture] and the outdoors, but honestly it was Ms. Lykins who got me interested it,” said Estep. “Also, I just love watching a seed grow.”

Some of the students said they would be interested in pursuing a career in agricultural science based on their experience in the FFA program. Jaynes said she loved the idea of genetically modifying seeds to produce a better plant, which was echoed by the others.