From left are Emerson Krull, Coltin Bucher, Wyatt Schafer and Carter Grady. This soils judging team placed first in the state in the Junior Division. Photo provided by Mariah Roberts.

News Release

SYRACUSE — Wawasee FFA junior soils judging team made history during the weekend by bringing home the state championship in the Junior Division of the Indiana FFA/4-H State Soils Career Development Event.

Team members Coltin Bucher, Carter Grady, Emerson Krull and Wyatt Schafer competed in DuBois County against 14 other teams from across the state and placed first. Emerson Krull also placed sixth individually. Students identify physical properties of four sites including soil texture, erosion, drainage, limiting layers, slope and landform. Using that information, they then make recommendations for homesite construction or agricultural practices.

Because FFA is an intra-curricular activity, junior high FFA began at Wawasee in 2017 when the school began offering agriculture classes at the eighth grade level, and in 2020 classes were offered to seventh graders as well. Prior to that, students in grades five to eight could only participate in the event if they were enrolled in 4-H. “Opening the door for all students to participate in agriculture education and FFA was a fantastic opportunity for students to explore over 300 different careers in agriculture, including those in the soil science and agronomy,” said Mariah Roberts, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor.

Because agriculture courses are no longer offered at the middle school level, junior high students wanting to participate can reach out to Roberts at the high school for more information.

High school students who qualified for the state-level competition were Cade Beer, Jared Beer, Justin Mullet, and Jacob Wilkinson who placed ninth in the 4-H Division and David Anderson, Braxton Hollar, Landen Kessler, and Ryan Menzie who placed 36th. Teams are coached by Brad Clayton and Mariah Roberts.

In front, from left, are Brad Clayton, Emerson Krull, Carter Grady and Mariah Roberts. In the second row are Coltin Bucher and Wyatt Schafer. In the third row are Braxton Hollar, Ryan Menzie, Landen Kessler and David Anderson. In the fourth row are Cade Beer, Justin Mullet, Jared Beer and Jake Wilkinson. Photo provided by Mariah Roberts.