EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
KANSAS CITY, MO -
Pennsylvania 793 points.
Minnesota 792 points.
When you are high school
seniors and you win a national
event by one point, you know you
have been in a contest. When the
team you edge out has won 10 out
of the last 26 years and includes
college students, you know you
have reached your goal even
though you didn’t expect to win.
This is what happened to the
agricultural mechanics FFA team
from the Hans Herr Chapter at Lan
caster Mennonite High School that
placed first at the National FFA
Agriculture Mechanics Career
Development contest at the 70th
National FFA Convention late last
year. The award is the first for both
LMH and for the state of Pennsyl
vania. In order to qualify for
national competition, the LMH
team placed first locally and in the
state of Pennsylvania.
The winning team members are
Jeff Nissley, son of Melvin and
Marilyn Nissley, Middletown; Eric
Martin, son of Galen and Nancy
Martin, Mt. Joy; and David Smok
er, son of Paul and Doris Smoker,
Oxford. Andrew Hamish, son of
James and Lois Hamish, Washing
ton Boro, served as an alternate.
Teacher Lem Metzler is the FFA
advisor.
The team members are very
modest in their appraisal of their
abilities. They said they were
suprised by their first place finish
but admitted it was one of their
goals. Actually they would have
been happy.to come in around 15th
place out of 44 teams.
Mctzler said that because the
youths work so well as a team they
came to the top. From the section
that required all members of the
Hans Herr FFA
Mechanics Team Wins National
team to be involved in developing a
computer model of a farm with all
the components in place, they
came in second in the nation. But
the individual scores were good
too. Nissley, Martin, and Smoker
placed fifth, seventh, and ninth
respectively.
The agricultural mechanics
event is one of 18 national compe
titive events held each year at the
national FFA convention. The
event is sponsored by the Firestone
Agricultural Tire Company in con
junction with the Bridgestone/
Firestone Trust Fund, and the
National FFA Foundation.
In competition, the team was
required to take a two-hour written
test and complete a two-hour team
problem that involved making
major systems changes in an agri
culture production unit and report
ing their analysis and solutions
with a computer generated docu
ment On the second day of com
petition, team members demon
strated their skills and knowledge
through hands-on activities in five
ag mechanics systems areas. For
example, contestants were
required to calculate the percen
tage of a farm land slope and deter
mine if it would be safe for farm
equipment The areas in which the
participants were tested included:
energy systems, industry/
marketing systems, machinery and
equipment systems,
environmental/natural resource
systems, and structural systems.
Metzler was thrilled with his stu
dents* accomplishments. He said it
is nice to win, but it is even greater
to have students win with the high
pctonal integrity and standards
fouhd in these young men. Bach
winning team member received a
$l,OOO scholarship for post-high
school education.
FFA is a national organization of
448,954 members preparing for
The national winning FFA mechanics team gather around a project in the shop at
school. The are from left, Eric Martin, Dave Smoker, Andy Harnish, alternate, Jeff Niss
ley, and Lem Metzler, teacher.
leadership and careers in the sci
ence, business, and technology of
agriculture. The organization has
7,263 local chapters located in the
U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the
Virgin Islands.
FFA’s mission is to make a posi-
Lancaster Farming, Friday. January «, IW-ABB
dve difference in the lives of stu
dents by developing their potential
for premier leadership, personal
growth and career success through
agricultural education. Local,
state, and national activities and
award programs provide opportun-
ities for students to apply know
ledge and skills learned in the
classroom.
LMH is a parochial school head
quarted east of Lancaster. The
Hans Herr Chapter was chartered
in January, 1993.