On February 7, seven Okawville FFA members entered their Chapter Winner Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs in the Section 22 FFA Proficiency Award judging. Ryland Helbig (Jr) won first place in Forage Production. Garrett Green (Sr) placed first in Diversified Crop Production Placement. Garrett and Ryland will both advance to the district competition which will be held on March 9th in Mt. Vernon. The district winner will be selected to advance to the State Awards day on March 26th.

Other participants include Franklin Walthes (Jr) in Ag Mechanics Design & Fabrication, he placed 2nd place. Hunter Kolweier (Fr) in Ag Services placed 2nd, Maggie Boecklen (Jr)  Landscape Management placed 2nd, and Diversified Horticulture, Paige Riechmann (Jr) in Beef Production Entrepreneurship, and Kyle Schwab (Jr) in Ag Mechanics Repair & Maintenance. Garrett Green also entered a project in Grain Production, and Ryland Helbig had other projects in Fiber & Oil Crop Production and Diversified Ag Production.

Harrison Borrenpohl (Sr), Ryland Helbig, Garrett Green, and Paige Riechmann were all recommended to receive their State FFA Degrees on February 9th at the Illinois FFA Convention later in June. Nineteen other students were also recommended from section 22. They all had to be interviewed and selected by the judges. The FFA State Degree is the highest individual honor the Illinois FFA can give to members. Everyone who applied for the FFA State Degree had to fill out a summarized application of the SAE program and state their accomplishments, scholarships, and community service. 

Ryland Helbig was selected as the Section Star in Agriculture Placement. Ryland will move on to the district level in March to potentially be a State Star Finalist.  He is the first Okawville student to win a proficiency award, STAR award, and receive their State FFA Degree all in the same year since the program restarted in 2003.