Bellevue FFA members busy

Recently 22 members and several chaperones from the Bellevue FFA Chapter went on an unforgettable trip to Denver, Colo.

The chapter's first stop was at the Indianapolis Speedway for a tour of the brickyard and museum of the early race cars. Then they headed to Clintonville, Ind., where they spent the night before heading out for the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

As they were driving through the city the first thing they saw was the Mississippi River. When they arrived at the Gateway Arch, some members rode up in pods to the top of the 430 foot structure, while the others toured the museum and watched a movie on how the arch was put together.

Later that afternoon they headed over to the Anheuser Busch factory where they saw the famous Clydesdale horses and walked through the different buildings and learned how their product was made.

The next day the group toured the Kingman Ranch where they raise Angus cattle and registered Angus bulls. The next stop of the day was the winter feed yard where the owner took the group on a tour through all the feed yards.

Then it was off to the Boot Hill Museum where they saw all the buildings in the old outlaw town. In the afternoon the group saw the Triangle H Grain and Cattle operation. That evening they spent the night in Longmont, Colo., where the group could hardly sleep for the next morning they were going to the rodeo.

Tuesday the group headed to the National Western Livestock show.

Wednesday morning they toured the U.S. Mint to see how the coins are made. They didn't get to see much because of security reasons.

The next morning they were off to Clay Center, Neb., to learn about the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. The group watched a slide show on genetics and cloning then they went on a tour around their facility. That afternoon they went to the Hawkeye Breeders facility in Adel, Iowa. Hawkeye Breeders gathers and freezes semen from cattle, sheep and deer from around the world.

On Friday morning, they took a tour on John Deere lawn mowers around the facility. They saw combines and planters and learned how they were put together and worked. After the tour they spent the rest of the day in the John Deere gift shop.

The following morning, on one of their last stops, they visited Chicago's Science and Industry Museum and spent most of the day looking at all the different exhibits.

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Recently four members of the Bellevue Chapter of the National FFA Organization attended the Ag Sales Career Development Event held at Hillsdale Senior High School.

In the Ag Sales contest FFA members must each take a written exam and then make a product sales demonstration to a panel of judges. Team members must also participate in different practicum's consisting of product displays, customer prospecting, phone orders and sales, customer relations, and advertising and promotion.

The Bellevue team received a gold rating and placed second in the competition out of 29 schools represented in District II. In state competition, the team placed 16th with a gold rating out of 385 possible teams state wide.

Bellevue FFA members on the Ag Sales team were Nicole Steinmetz, daughter of Roger and Susan Steinmetz; Tyler Brake, son of Amy and Tim Brake; Cody Rine, son of Bob and Gerri Rine; and Megan Hunker, daughter of Roger and Laurie Hunker.