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Moore FFA Team Overcomes Odds to Achieve High Finish
1259 S Eastern, Moore (405) 895-6638 scrogginsanimalhospital.com
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loriculture CDE competitions consist of four-person teams, which significantly impact the final scores. In their recent fall competition, the Moore FFA team found themselves short a team member, but Camy Stark, Diego Lopez, and Bryanna Gruber still managed to walk away with some impressive hardware: 1st Place for High Individual – Camy Stark (Southmoore) 3rd Place for High Individual – Diego Lopez (Moore) 4th Place Team For those unfamiliar with the Moore FFA Floriculture program, Gruber says it’s about a lot more than just recognizing flowers and plants. “It’s a very in-depth view of flowers and plants,” said Gruber. “We really dive deep into so many details about them. How they grow, the various challenges of growing them, bugs and diseases that impact them.” Lopez adds that the mental aspect of floriculture is pretty challenging, which fits with his passion for learning. “It’s not necessarily physical like a sport,” said Lopez, “But it’s still exciting to push your mind and understanding to learn about these things. And it’s like a metaphor for life because you’re dealing with things that are alive and are impacted by all the things in the environment around them.” The floriculture competitions involve testing on areas of knowledge in the realm of floriculture, as well as public speaking. Lopez, who was previously involved in band and basketball before switching to the FFA program, says he has learned a lot from participating in floriculture competitions. “I’ve found that it has made me a better public speaker,” said Lopez. “It has also helped me improve on taking tests. It’s also a cool party trick to be able to talk about flowers in such detail.”
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Gruber also loves the intellectual challenge of being involved in Moore FFA and the floriculture program. “It’s so much more than just identifying plants and flowers,” said Gruber. “There’s a lot of problem-solving involved. You’re challenged to understand how the different bugs and deficiencies impact them.” Both Lopez and Gruber say that participating in the Moore FFA and horticulture programs has impacted their thoughts on what career path they may choose to follow in the future. “I’ve enjoyed all of this so much,” said Gruber. “It’s made me realize that I might want to pursue a flower or plant-related career as I grow older.” Lopez said, “It has impacted me. I want to go into teaching as a career, and that would probably be in History or English.” If you are interested in participating on a CDE team this coming spring, be sure to visit with an Ag Teacher about the opportunities that will be available!
