Four Merced area high school students win national FFA proficiency awards
Four local high school students from Golden Valley and Merced high schools received national Future Farmers of America Proficiency awards recently.
Golden Valley High’s Hunter Aue, Spencer Stephens, Peter Bliss and Merced High’s Alyssa Loredo were all named national winners. The FFA organization has over 700,000 members nationwide.
Each winner will receive $1,000 and a plaque.
“These students have worked toward this accomplishment since they were toddlers, and it is the culmination of the hard work they have put in for many years,” said Golden Valley FFA advisor Cody Jacobsen. “The students dedication toward being successful and focus on being continual learners is admirable, these students will continue to be successful throughout their lives and will be leaders in the Agriculture industry.”
Merced ag instructor Stephanie Kuhr says they have excitedly watched the announcement of the winners over and over.
“While they were listing the other candidates, you could see the nervousness in (Loredo’s) smile,” Kuhr said. “Once they announced her as the winner, you can see that smile turn into a jump of joy. We both started screaming so loudly that one of our neighboring teachers came to ask if everything was okay.”
Alyssa Loredo, Merced
The first time Kuhr saw Loredo, she was at the Merced County Fair selling her jerky product. Kuhr was transferring to Merced High from Livingston that year and she had made a mental note that she had to get in contact with Loredo.
“I asked my fifth period soil chemistry class if anyone knew the girl that sold beef jerky from that point on she was nicknamed jerky girl,” Kuhr said.
Loredo’s national proficiency award was for agricultural sales-entrepreneurship. Loredo has a supervised agricultural experience named Wild Game Jerky, involving the sale and marketing of domesticated and exotic animal jerky products.
The business began small, setting up a county fairs, but now has expanded to sales on Amazon. Loredo currently sells 30 types of jerky including bison, alligator and ostrich.
“I believe what makes Alyssa’s project stand out is the novelty of the product she sells,” Kurh said. “Alyssa is extremely hardworking and dedicates a lot of her time to business. It is not easy balancing school, sports, college classes all the while trying to grew her business. Alyssa does not come from an agricultural background which really strengthens the fact the FFA is for everyone.”
Hunter Aue, Golden Valley
Aue raises, breeds and sells bucking bulls. His national proficiency award is for beef production-entrepreneurship.
Aue began his project in 2008 and by high school some of the bulls he has produced have become competitive at Professional Bull Rider events across the Western and Midwestern United States.
He currently has 105 head of Brahman-influenced cows and nine bulls that are active in PBR events. He also has eight bulls that have competed in World Finals in Las Vegas.
Spencer Stephens, Golden Valley
Stephens won his national proficiency award for environmental science and natural resources-entrepreneurship/placement.
Stephens was only 10 years old when he began working for his family’s business, SS Blue Diesel Exhaust Fluid.
He has focused his work on specifically cleaning and maintaining of the facilities. The fluid is a combination of deionized water and urea, which when combined is used in all new tractors, trucks and other agriculturally-related equipment.
It helps reduce carbon emissions in the air because it removes nitrous oxide.
Peter Bliss, Golden Valley
By the time Bliss was 6 years old he was operating tractors and harvesters, while helping to grow and harvest cotton.
Bliss’ national proficiency award was for fiber and/or oil crop production-entrepreneurship/placement.
When Bliss started high school he had inherited 30 acres of ground to plant his own cotton. Today he grows 182 acres and manages all field preparation, irrigation, chemical application and Acala cotton harvesting.
“All three students (Aue, Stephens and Bliss) have been involved with their projects since they were young kids,” Jacobson said. “Over the years, they have been entrusted by their families to continually expand their knowledge and skills, and I have no doubt that all three of them will be expanding and taking over their family operations in the future years.
“All three students had specialized school schedules their senior year of high school so that they could do what they love, work and expand upon their projects and achieve success.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 11:28 AM.
