Westside FFA & Agricultural Education

Happy day!! Austin joined FFA this semester to compete on the Milk Quality & Products CDE team. His team has qualified for state contest which meant his blue corduroy needed to be ordered quick. Today, he received his blue jacket! We look forward to him wearing it at state CDE in Fayetteville after Spring Break, and throughout his MANY upcoming FFA endeavors!

REMINDER!!
All degree & officer applications are due tomorrow, March 19 @ 3:30 PM to Mrs. Phillips

A few important reminders/ updates of upcoming events!!

All officer applications & degree applications are due to Mrs. Phillips by March 19th at 3:30 PM.

Cream of the Crop CDE (Livestock & Milk Quality) will be next Friday (March 20) in Beebe.

State CDE (Livestock & Milk Quality) will be April 2-3 in Fayetteville, we will leave the afternoon of the 1st and be back the evening of the 3rd.

We don’t have a date for officer interviews yet but they will most likely be mid-April. We will push that date out when we have our panel assembled & come to a conclusion.

State Convention will take place April 20-22, we will be traveling to Hot Springs on Sunday April 19th & returning the evening of the 22nd. Students who will be attending have already been informed.

Chapter banquet will take place on Saturday May 9th. Time & more details will be shared soon! All members & families are invited. Please come out to help us celebrate our students and their accomplishments this school year!

Tonight we had our Chapter Game Night!! We started the evening with pizza and good natured fun with different games. The night may have ended with an intense battle of tortilla slaps turned tortilla torpedo launches. If any of your children returned home covered in soggy tortilla with a couple of accidental bruises, we sincerely apologize!

Many members have been asking about our next chapter night since returning from Christmas Break. We’ve been busy busy between LDE’s, CDE’s, and our Auction so far this semester— but the time has come! We are keeping an eye on the weather, but as of now we are still on for chapter game & pizza night this Wednesday! Sign-up is posted on our google classroom!

If you need to order an FFA jacket this semester, let Mrs Phillips know BY WEDNESDAY! I know it’s short notice but we’re needing to have them delivered in time for state convention and CDE.

Yesterday, we had students showing in the annual Buffalo Island Northeast District Junior Livestock Show! Its great to see these kiddos back in the ring & a couple of younger members just starting out at their first show!

Sheep 🐑
Cali Kirby- 3rd in class
Havily King- 3rd in class

Hogs 🐖
Sadie Guerin- 4th in class

Goats 🐐
Jaxson Hines- 3rd & 5th in classes, top 8 senior showmanship

Rabbits 🐇
Jaxson Hines- 1st, 1st, 2nd & 1 best of breed

Tuesday, March 3rd, 27 Westside FFA members competed in the 2026 Arkansas FFA Eastern District CDE Contest hosted by Arkansas State University. We would like to offer special congratulations to our Livestock Evaluation team for placing 2nd and our Milk Quality & Products team for placing 5th. Both of these teams have qualified for state contest in April. While CDE season has come to an end for the rest of our teams, we still commend their hard work this Spring semester!!

Today our Advanced Plant Science class did a unique lab! They started beefsteak tomato seeds a couple of months ago, transplanted them up to 4” pots, the 8” pots, then the 3 gallon buckets that they are in now. Today we picked some unripened tomatoes and hauled them up to the teachers lounge along with some other ingredients and one of our students, Jared Robins’ Great Grandmothers recipe. We cooked up a storm in the teachers lounge kitchen and enjoyed some fresh, school grown, fried green tomatoes all while following food safety practices & witnessing the full cycle of seeing what we grow can turn into! 🍅

Westside FFA is District CDE Bound on this foggy morning!! We have students competing in 7 events today, please join us in wishing them luck!

Parents of CDE kiddos!!
Please make sure students bring their permission slips tomorrow. We only had a handful turned in today. They can’t get on the bus without them!

This morning, our Milk Quality & Products team loaded up in the van at 4:30 AM to travel to Paris, AR to compete in the Logan Co FFA Field Day. They secured an impressive 9th place and have been happy napping on the trip home! Team members include; Austin Wooldridge, Harlynn Robertson, Cali Kirby, & Addison Denton. Congratulations to Addison Denton for being our high point individual today!