The Garden Spot FFA at Lampeter-Strasburg (L-S) High School is always active.

Members of the chapter attended the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 and have their sights set on the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January.

At the national convention, junior Rex Giberson and seniors Jack Ross, Will Gajecki, and Antonio Franco finished in second place as a team in the farm and agribusiness management contest, and each individual also earned a silver medal.

"We had an individual portion as well as a team portion," Jack said. "The individual portion was three hours long. We get a whole farm scenario when you get all the statistics and all the financials of a farm. We get a packet of that, and we have to apply those and interpret them into a whole bunch of questions that were given based on the business, such as what's the best way to run it?"

Trent Thomas was one of 13 L-S students who attended the conference. "For me, (the highlight) was definitely the Expo Center; going in and being able to see the different schools and businesses that were there showing off what they had was really cool to me," Trent said. "It opened me up to what I could do career-wise later in life. I think it was just a great area to walk around and see what was out there."

Garden Spot FFA members are now busy preparing for the Farm Show. Rex is leading a team that is restoring a 1947 John Deere A tractor, which was donated by the Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association in Kinzers.

"They have a program called the adopted tractor program," Rex said. "They donate the tractor and pretty much sponsor the whole project. Back in the spring, we started to tear it down. We tore it down pretty much the whole way, taking the block and the pistons and everything out of it and then servicing all the parts in it. We did most of that ourselves and then had to ship some things away, but then we started getting everyone involved, cleaning and priming and painting it all. In the last month or two, we started to reassemble it and started troubleshooting and getting it running."

The L-S squad will compete against other schools Saturday, Jan. 17.

Senior Brooke Rubicam noted that some Garden Spot FFA members will be recognized during the Mid-Winter Convention at the Farm Show on Monday, Jan. 12. "This is where the Keystone Degrees, which are 12th-grade FFA members who have been in FFA and received all their prior degrees, go to get their state-level degree, and then kids who are getting their FFA jackets for the first time will also receive them there," she said.

Brooke, Will, and Antonio, along with Alexis Shaffer, Alexis Swayne, Maddux Harrsh, Jack, Sebastian Delgado, and Maya Coon, will receive their Keystone Degrees.

Keira Suter, Anya Sheffer, Anthony Fantazzi, Paisley Rankin, Emily Simpson, Garrett Thomas, Hewitt Planck, Jackson Allison, Reese Hudler, TJ Bettinsoli, Aiden Glessner, Brayden Welk, Juliette Cummings, and Lucia Proczko will be presented with their FFA jackets.

Anthony said, "It really just makes me feel cared for, more included in the FFA, and just really acknowledged and cared for."

Maddux was given a job unrelated to the conference and Farm Show: rejuvenating the Milk Jug awarded to the winner of the annual L-S vs. Solanco football game. "We were tasked with stripping all the paint off, priming it, and then repainting it to look newer and then painted new dates and everything on it, so then we would have a new-looking Milk Jug for the next however many years it'll last," he said. "I did the entire stripping down of the paint, and then the repainting, and then we sent it to the art department to do the numbers and stickers."

Adviser Holly Oberholtzer touted the club members' industriousness. "It makes me very proud," she said. "I think one thing that I appreciate about them is that they work really hard, so it's always rewarding when they get a big payout in the end. We have a lot of kids that work really hard, and others don't always get to see the results."

The teacher noted that club members represent the school and FFA with pride. "I think our kids do a really good job of also trying to promote the organization and our chapter in a really positive light that I think others can see," she said. "And I think others are taking note of that and supporting them. I think we have a lot of people that are really willing to work with them because they see them as very hard-working individuals and very respectful students that potentially have a future in an agricultural career or a non-agricultural career."