As his time at Montgomery County High School comes down to its final days, Trice Roden is enjoying his time as an entrepreneur.

The MCHS senior has his own lawn care business called Roden Lawncare, which serves residents of Montgomery City, Wellsville and Jonesburg.

“I enjoy mowing,” Roden said. “I’ve always been interested in tractors and stuff like that. Mowing is pretty close to it.”

Roden received huge recognition for his successful business on April 17 at the Missouri FFA State Convention at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. He was one of five MCHS FFA chapter members to receive a state degree and was selected as one of 16 Star Agribusiness Area winners.

Roden was one of 1,145 students from across the state to receive a state degree, which is the highest honor for any Missouri FFA member. He was honored while walking across the stage in front of 10,000 people at Mizzou Arena.

“It’s nerve wracking, but it’s an accomplishment that I’ve been trying to do for four years now since I’ve been in high school,” Roden said.

The other MCHS FFA members who received their state degrees were Gracie Cobb, Colby Ellis, Karter Reagan and Jacob Teson. All of them are seniors.

Wellsville-Middletown had three students who earned state degrees. They were junior Leah Kleinsorge and seniors Gavyn Moritz and Abbie Freie.

The convention was held at Mizzou Arena for the first time after it was housed at nearby Hearnes Center for many years. The three-day event began on April 15.

The MCHS chapter received many honors at the convention. Besides having five state degree winners, the chapter also had a member – 2025 graduate Avery Ridgley – capturing a proficiency state championship in agriculture processing and its ag issues team of Lily Hillebrand, Jillian Weekley, Olivia Spurgeon, Alaina Zerr, Ann Rose and Lafe McCurdy placing fifth in the leadership development events state contest.

MCHS had three other teams – soils, dairy cattle and food science – that participated in state competition. The food science team placed 16th and one of its members – Anna Kay Johnson – earned a gold rating. The soils team finished 21st and got a gold rating from Owen Hillebrand. The dairy cattle team was 37th.

In addition to his state degree, Roden was the Area V winner in Star Agribusiness and placed second in turf grass management in the proficiency contest. He said he was thrilled to receive his honors in front of many people at Mizzou Arena.

“I’ve been to the national convention where there were 100,000 FFA kids,” said Roden, who won an area proficiency award in turf grass. “I have never been recognized for something this honorable for the state. I was really appreciative of my ag advisors for helping through this. It’s a big deal and I’m very excited and happy with my accomplishments.”

Roden has owned his lawncare business since he was 12 years old. He plans to continue running the business after he graduates from MCHS next month.

“I inherited three yards from my older brother,” Roden said. “Once I got into high school, I decided that I was going to use that as my SAE (supervised agriculture experience) in FFA. So I decided that I needed to grow that. Over the four years, I have 40 yards and I own all of my lawn equipment. I’m renting a shop on Main Street in Montgomery.”

Roden’s equipment includes two 72-inch Ferris mowers, smaller mowers, leafblowers and weedeaters. He said he found out that excellent customer service and strong marketing skills are keys in owning a business.

“I learned all of this through FFA and I was taught how to do all of these things,” Roden said. “My business has doubled within the last two years.”

Roden has been with the MCHS FFA chapter since his freshman year. He said he encourages all high school students to join the FFA.

“You don’t have to be a farmer and you don’t have to live out in the country,” Roden said. “Everybody needs to do it. There’s so much to learn in being an FFA member. There are so many people you can meet. Being able to market yourself and network yourself and just meet people from across an entire nation is just awesome.”