Their annual apple cider production event was a huge success in September, with over 100 bushels of apples pressed into cider and purchased via donations to the school.

Since then, the students have hardly stopped to take a breath — from competitions to creative endeavors, these students are keeping busy!

One Sugar Valley team participated in the State Grasslands competition, earning them first place overall.

The team consisted of Austin Duck, Kohana Yamashita, Olivia Clester and Marrin Clester.

PHOTO PROVIDED Pictured with their shoes pointed at the SVRCS FFA Brick are the Nationals Forestry team, Austin Duck, Wyatt Conoway, Thayne Jeffries and Carson Sanders.

Students participated individually and then their scores were tallied together for a team total.

“(The Grasslands competition) is split up into four different competitions. You have Wildlife, Soils, Plant ID and Evaluation,” said Yamashita.

Though the weather wasn’t the best during the competition, the students kept their spirits up and competed to the best of their ability.

“Even though we were on the same team, we were split into (those) groups. We all did the rotations and then our scores were combined,” said Duck.

Olivia and Yamashita were first and second respectively overall, with Yamashita only trailing behind Olivia by a few points.

PHOTO PROVIDED The Forestry team poses for a photo.

As a team, these students placed first, earning each of them a $500 scholarship to be used at the post high school educational institution of their choice.

By achieving the highest score overall, Olivia received an additional $500 scholarship.

Olivia, who has been participating in the competition for years, has earned around $3,000 over multiple competitions to put towards a college of her choosing. She won the top individual prize two years in a row and has been on a first place team for four consecutive years.

The team was all pleased by how well they worked together, and spoke fondly over their time spent studying and quizzing one another.

“Even though we don’t get to work together on the competition, we’re still working together as a team,” said Duck.

PHOTO PROVIDED Austin Duck and Olivia Clester pose next to a lion statue.

The whole team wants to attend the National Grasslands competition, and is currently working on fundraising efforts to make the trip happen.

Eight students have represented SVRCS well in the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Ind.

Out of the three teams that competed at the FFA State Competition from SVRCS, two teams placed first in their respective categories and will headed to Indianapolis in October.

The students competed in two categories — Forestry and Environmental and Natural Resource Management — against other students from across the United States.

The Forestry team is made up of Austin Duck, senior; Wyatt Conoway, junior; Thayne Jeffries, senior and Carson Sanders, sophomore.

“Some of us have been at States a few times, but at Nationals none of us have done that. It was a whole new thing,” said Sanders.

With individual placements, three students placed silver and one placed bronze, earning the entire team silver for their category.

The students commented on the difficulty of the competition, citing that they found map reading and the business problem most difficult.

As the team representing Forestry for the entire state of Pennsylvania, the pressure was on to do well.

“It was fun to talk to people (at the competition.) We got to meet people from different areas,” said Jeffries.

Though the team did well, they’re confident now that they can do better next time.

“When you get to Nationals, it’s such a big step from states,” said SVRCS FFA Advisor Chuck Bechdel, “They did good, but it’s tough.”

“Next time we’ll know what to expect,” said SVRCS FFA Advisor Robbie Weaver, “Some of the stuff they weren’t prepared for… It was new. We weren’t ready, but we’ll learn for next time.”

The Environmental and Natural Resource Management team is made up of Olivia Clester, Parker Liddic, Nolan Bubb and Lincoln Breon, all seniors.

With individual placements, all four students placed silver, earning the entire team bronze for their category.

When asked what the most difficult part of the competition was, a few of the team members agreed it was the soil identification.

“I didn’t struggle with that because I (also) do that for Agronomy,” said Clester, “There were soil samples… We had to dig in the soil pit and determine slope and permeability… You just had to look at it and know.”

Outside of the individual competition, as a team they had to make a presentation about recycling.

Clester’s favorite part of the competition was her experiences during their stay at the hotel.

“We got to meet people we could see again (at future competitions)” she said, highlighting the social aspect the competitions have.

“We had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of new things,” said Bubb, “Just going to walk around at the expo center was great.”

Liddic seconded this idea, enthusiastic about everything he’d seen. He brought up one of the extra events the advisors take the students to during their downtime between competitions.

“It was my first time in Indianapolis,” said Liddic, “The rodeo was fun, too. I’d been to a rodeo before but not as big as that.”

“If we get the chance, we’ll definitely go (to Nationals) again,” said Breon.

On top of all these great competitive experiences, students are also participating in creative projects. This past week students began decorating hay bales for the Clinton County Fairgrounds Christmas display — deciding to decorate a round bale to look like a reindeer.

They also did well on their fruit sales for the year, and are preparing for their annual sauerkraut sale.

They will also be hosting a cash Bingo on Dec. 15 at the Piper Aviation Museum. There will be raffles, a Chinese auction and the Village Tavern has donated food.

Tickets for the event are going fast — to ensure you get a ticket contact jfox@SVRCS.org.