Seven FFA members from the Montgomery County area will receive a big award on April 25.

Dever Cope, Jonah Happe, Brayden Harris, Landon Pottebaum, Avery Ridgley and Garrett Weekley of Montgomery County and Maddi Poage of Wellsville-Middletown will receive FFA state degrees at the state convention, which is scheduled for April 23-25 at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Hearnes Center.

Last year, MCHS had 10 students who received state degrees and W-M had two.

Cope, Happe, Harris, Pottebaum, Ridgley and Weekley joined the MCHS FFA chapter when they were freshmen. All six of them were chapter degree recipients when they were sophomores and Greenhand degree recipients when they were freshmen.

Pottebaum is the MCHS FFA chapter president this year after being secretary last year. Recently, he qualified for state in grain production. He was voted the Barnwarming king in September.

Ridgley shares vice-president duties with senior Beckham Cothren and Gracie Cobb. She is spending her third year as an officer.

Since Ridgley joined the chapter in her freshman year, she earned many honors, such as a state title in Division 2 Public Speaking at the FFA state convention as a sophomore and earning a spot at the HYMAX Academy when she was a freshman. Over the fall, she qualified for state in speech competition and was named Barnwarming queen.

Also, Pottebaum and Ridgley were members of a food science team that placed third in the FFA state convention when they were sophomores.
Weekley was pretty active with the chapter all four years. He served as the group’s sentinel. During the FFA awards event in November, he received a Carhartt jacket for making over $10,000 in fruit sales for four years. Weekley completed all of his high school credits in December and is currently attending welding school.

Happe is the secretary this year after being the reporter last year. Cope qualified for state in beef production placement this year. Harris helped a forestry team place 12th in districts when he was a junior and helped a dairy foods team finish 16th in districts in his freshman year.

Poage has been with the W-M FFA chapter since she was a freshman. She is serving her second and final year as chapter president. During her FFA career, she earned several awards in the speaking category, worked as a delegate in the state convention and participated in the HYMAX Academy when she was a freshman.