The team of Future Farmers of America (FFA) students, consisting of Harper Tressler, Evangeline Andrus, Marrin Clester and Kohana Yamashita, placed first, earning each of them a $500 scholarship to be used at the post high school educational institution of their choice.

Students participated individually and then their scores were tallied together for a team total, with the lowest score dropped.

The competition is split up into four different competitions: Wildlife, Soils, Plant ID and Pasture Evaluation.

As an individual, Yamashita achieved the highest score out of all competitors.

PHOTO PROVIDED SVRCS student Kohana Yamashita took first place overall at the competition.

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

Last year, Yamashita came second to Olivia Clester by a mere few points.

Olivia won first prize for individuals for two years in a row previously, and was on a first place team for four consecutive years. Over the course of multiple competitions, Olivia earned around $3,000 to put towards a secondary education of her choosing.

“I’m happy to get first. I was (a few) points away (from first) last year,” said Yamashita.

For Tressler and Andrus, this was their first time on a winning team at Grasslands.

PHOTO PROVIDED Sugar Valley Rural Charter School FFA students, from left, are Harper Tressler, Evangeline Andrus, Marrin Clester and Kohana Yamashita. The team won first place overall at the State Grasslands Competition.

Though they couldn’t work together directly during the competition, the students spent many hours together studying for the four categories.

“I enjoyed it. I think we worked really well together when it came to studying, even though we didn’t get to test together. It was a good time to look over materials with them,” said Andrus.

Tressler echoed her statements, “It feels great to win, obviously. It was a good experience.”

FFA Advisor Chuck Bechdel noted the advisors also help the students study as often as possible.

“Rob Weaver and I bring in plants. They’re very strong (in that category) when they get up there. We’re very happy about the win,” said Bechdel.

All of the students will be returning to the competition next year in hopes of another first place victory.

In addition to these four students taking first place, another SVRCS team took third place in the competition, missing second by just a few points. The third place team was made up of Marley Bickel, Halen Martin, Wyatt Conoway and Tobias Conoway.