Venice’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) teams recently competed against various other high school FFA chapters.  

The competition took place at Canoga Park High School February 1. It was a public speaking competition. 

Leah Hoffman won first place in the job interview category. Myco Gibson took second place in the prepared public speaking category.

Cooper Wines, A’myrie Khali, Daniel Duffy, Andrea Nava, and Nicholas Pina won second and third place awards in various categories. The categories included impromptu public speaking and reciting the FFA creed in English or Spanish. 

Senior Leah Hoffman was one point ahead of the second place winner in the job interview category. “It was scary and exciting at the same time, because the questions the judges asked me were completely different from what I was expecting,” she said. “It was a close call, but it feels really good to get first place for something.”

Their previous competition focused on horticulture and floriculture. It was at North Hollywood High School January 25. Students Cecilia Barocio, Zyra Castillo, Daniel Duffy, Taylor Espinosa, Myco Gibson, Leah Hoffman, and Jocelyn Quintinero all took part. 

Gibson and Barocio won the first place individual prizes in horticulture and floriculture respectively, and Venice’s teams placed first in both categories. 

“It was really surprising,” Espinosa said. 

The horticulture competition consisted of identifying around 200 plants, a general knowledge test, and two practicums. The practicums involved repotting a plant and ranking various plants from healthiest to unhealthiest. 

“I mostly won because of my score on plant ID,” Gibson said.

The plant ID section of the competition involved identifying images of plants from a list of species. There were about 200 plants.

While horticulture focuses on landscaping and gardening, floriculture is about arranging picked plants. The floriculture competition also included a plant ID, but the judging portion had flower arrangements. “Horticulture is a very broad category. Floriculture is a little more specific and a little bit easier,” Barocio said. The floriculture team is also learning how to make corsages and other arrangements. 

Future Farmers of America is a national organization with many chapters. At Venice, the FFA group recently built a pond with a waterfall in the garden. They’re planning on getting animals as well.

 When they went to compete at North Hollywood High, the teams learned that the school had pigs and goats. 

“It really showed us what we can do as a chapter with the space that we have, because their space wasn’t very large either,” Gibson said. “It shows us what’s possible with horticulture in urban schools.”

FFA recently got approval to get rabbits and chickens. They also bought a tractor to learn how it works. 

There’s also an upcoming Valentine’s Day fundraiser where they will sell flower arrangements. The fundraiser will last from February 12 to February 14.

“I think FFA is really helpful for coming out of your shell, because a lot of things involve talking to people,” Espinosa said. “My first competition was a public speaking event, which is completely out of my range. I hate public speaking, but I got an award! So it made me think, maybe I’m not so bad at it.”

Other FFA members agreed that the organization helped them socially. “It’s like finding a second family,” said sophomore A’myrie Khali. Khali won second place in the impromptu speaking category. 

“It’s really fun,” Gibson said. “I’m able to identify plants off the top of my head all the time now. And FFA is also a social thing. I know people that live on the other side of the city who are also part of FFA, that I would’ve never met otherwise.” 

Agriculture teacher Trevor Hendershott sponsors Venice’s FFA because he was part of the organization in high school. He hopes that Venice’s FFA teams will continue to do even more competitions in the future.