When Brayden Harris walked across the stage at a dark Hearnes Center at 6:34 p.m. on April 25 to earn an FFA state degree, he was thrilled that he was one of 1,088 members in Missouri to achieve that accomplishment.

“It takes a lot of work over the four years,” the Montgomery County senior said. “But in the end, it pays off. It’s a pretty big award to get, so I was honored to get it.”

Harris was one of seven Montgomery County area students who earned their state degrees during the FFA state convention in Columbia. The others were Dever Cope, Jonah Happe, Landon Pottebaum, Avery Ridgley and Garrett Weekley of MCHS and Maddi Poage of Wellsville-Middletown.

To earn a stage degree, a FFA member must be active in the organization for at least two years, complete at least two years of agricultural education and participate in at least 25 hours of community service.

Poage said she was happy with her honor. She earned it by being a very active member with the W-M FFA chapter, earning several awards in the speaking category, working as a delegate in the state convention and participating in the HYMAX Academy when she was a freshman.

“It’s definitely an accomplishment,” Poage said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it or not, but I was right on the borderline for the amount of points that I needed, so it was really nice to see all of my hard work pay off.”

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.

Harris said he was glad to be part of a talented senior class, which also includes Beckham Cothren.

“I love this class,” said Harris, who plans to attend State Technical College in Linn next year. “We’ve all been through all of our ag classes together. We’ve been in FFA together. We all participated in everything, so I’m just honored to have them with me in getting this (state degree).”

Harris’ achievements during his four years with the MCHS FFA chapter was helping a forestry team place 12th in districts when he was a junior and helping a dairy foods team finish 16th in districts in his freshman year. Harris said being part of the FFA chapter has been memorable.

“I spent most of my time in FFA and ag at school,” Harris said. “It’s pretty close to home.”

The state degree ceremony lasted over an hour. Harris and his MCHS FFA mates waited almost 50 minutes to hear their name called.

“I don’t want to say it got boring at times, but at times it felt like there was not much to do,” Harris said. “But they kept us entertained with all of the stuff and the talents. It was pretty cool.”

Also, MCHS received plenty of awards during the state convention. Pottebaum and Ridgley were state winners in grain production and environmental proficiencies, respectively, and qualified for the FFA national convention, which is scheduled for this fall at Indianapolis. Ridgley finished third in advanced public speaking and senior Beckham Cothren came in fourth in exempt speaking. The forestry team of Landon Pottebaum, Reed Pottebaum, Lily Hillebrand and Owen Hillebrand placed 22nd. The MCHS FFA chapter was voted the 31st chapter in the state.

Poage, who has been the W-M FFA president since her junior year, said she was pleased to have some of her FFA mates to cheer her on while getting her state degree.

“We didn’t have any teams going to compete this year,” the senior said. “It was kind of a bummer, but it was nice getting to bring the rest of our kids from the chapter who have never been (to the convention) to come support me. This was their first convention experience.”