FFA members from Penn Manor High School are celebrating their team and individual awards and rankings from the National FFA Convention and Expo, held October 24 to November 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Poultry Evaluation team won a team gold ranking with the individuals earning a silver ranking. Manor FFA placed 12th out of 41 Poultry Evaluation Teams in the country. Team members included Anna Frey, Jozie Gilger, Leanna Kneisley, and Misty Railing.
During the poultry evaluation event, students are provided with hands-on learning experiences related to poultry production, management, processing, marketing, food safety, and product quality. At the convention, poultry evaluation students were taught additional skills on making accurate observations, making and justifying decisions, recognizing the economic importance of value-added products, evaluating live poultry, and completing a written exam.
The Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management team earned an overall silver ranking, placing 23rd out of 42 national teams. Individually, Katie Charles received a gold ranking, Jayden Buck and Gracie Shaiebly with a silver ranking, and Lillian Walborn a bronze ranking.
Teams in the dairy cattle evaluation and management event cultivate essential herd management skills. The members assess pedigrees and herd records, conduct management exercises, evaluate live dairy cattle, and present their decisions, fostering a deeper understanding of the industry.
Three recent Penn Manor High School graduates — Vita Failla, Molly Gehr, and Carly Railing — were honored at the convention as American FFA Degree recipients. This degree is the highest honor a member of FFA can receive.
The trio qualified for the degrees by earning at least $10,000 through a supervised agricultural experience or earning at least $2,000 and completing at least 50 hours of community service with three or more activities.
Most notably, Manor FFA was selected as one of the top ten Chapters in the nation in the Building Communities portion of the program of activities.
Senior FFA officers, Lathan Axe and KK Welch, presented and completed an interview on Manor FFA’s Mini-THON Line Dance activity, the qualifying activity for this recognition.
Manor FFA also accepted their three-star ranking award in the 2025 National Chapter Award program. A three-star ranking is the highest that can be achieved, with less than 10% of chapters nationwide given a ranking from the National FFA Organization.
Congratulations to the Manor FFA team and students for being recognized for your hard work and accomplishments!