Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Gar Pal Ag. Mechanics
Gar Pal FFA national Parliamentary 1106
The Gar-Pal Ag Mechanics team is made up of five 2015 graduates. From left, they are Jim Jahn, Jacob Arlt, Hunter Woltering, Mitch Jamison and Gabe Cocking. They brought home a 5th place win in the national competition.
The Gar-Pal sophomore novice “parli-pro” team of Daniel Orf, Emily Bagott, Katie Arrasmith, Seth Thompson, Payson Griner, Evan Weaggraff and Jackson Gordon brought home third place. Also pictured is Gar-Pal FFA Advisor Mike Patrick.
Garfield-Palouse took two top-five national FFA finishes at the national FFA convention in Louisville, Ky., the week of Oct. 26-30. A group of seven sophomores finished third in novice parliamentary procedure and five 2015 graduates took fifth in agriculture mechanics.
Competing at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Oct. 27, the novice “parli-pro” team of Daniel Orf, Emily Bagott, Katie Arrasmith, Seth Thompson, Payson Griner, Evan Weaggraff and Jackson Gordon began with a knowledge test before three preliminary flights – during which the Washington team beat Texas, who later took first in the nation.
The top two from the preliminary flights advanced to the finals.
The knowledge test covered rules of parliamentary law followed by flights, in which each team is given a topic and one minute to prepare, before delivering a 13-minute demonstration to include an opening ceremony, a meeting with motions and debate and ending with a closing ceremony.
“You can't have one person who's really good at everything,” said Garfield-Palouse FFA advisor Mike Patrick. “Everybody has to know everything.”
Teams are judged on quality of ceremonies, debate and whether motions and other features of a meeting are delivered correctly.
“All the little different nuances that should be done,” said Patrick.
The Garfield-Palouse team won the Washington state championship in May, qualifying them for nationals.
The school's ag-mechanics team also won the state title last May. The group of seniors graduated a month later. They reconvened in Louisville.
Team members Gabe Cocking, Jacob Arlt, Hunter Woltering and Jim Jahn arrived from various colleges and Mitch Jamison took time off of his travels as an FFA state officer.
On Oct. 28 and 29, the group competed at nationals for two days of tasks. The first was a problem-solving exercise to build a boom sprayer out of PVC pipe and write a paper on it.
“Just like a typical team, you're as strong as your weakest link,” said Patrick.
A knowledge test followed.
On day two, they took skills tests in areas such as electrical wiring, arc welding and small engines.
All national winners were announced that Friday at a morning ceremony.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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