An FFA team from Merced County won a national championship, and helped a business
The El Capitan Future Farmers of America Marketing Plan team, which consisted of three members, recently won the National Finals and were crowned national champions at National FFA Convention and Career or Leadership Development Finals in Indianapolis, Ind.
The three members were Autumn Miller, Makayla Ward and Nikolas Williams, who are all 17-year old seniors.
“It’s the first national championship for El Capitan,” said El Capitan FFA advisor Kaylyn Davenport. “This is really a special accomplishment for the three of them.”
The trio competed in the Marketing Plan competition, in which participants develop practical marketing skills by creating a marketing plan for a local agriculture business, on Oct. 28-29.
The El Capitan team worked with a snack company out of Turlock.
According to Davenport, the team researched industry trends, determined competitors, marketing strategies, sales goals/projections for the company, and a budget to help them identify their return on investment.
Overall, the goal of the competition was to help the company increase profits through marketing strategies.
“It was really a rewarding experience,” Davenport said. “They helped an agricultural business in our area and the business was thankful for their work. The goal was to increase profits and for high school kids to come up with a plan to do that is pretty impressive.”
Before the competition, the team was judged on an eight-page written plan. At the competition, they then had 15 minutes to present their marketing plan, and then had 10 minutes of follow up questions.
The team first competed and won the State FFA Finals back in May 2021. The team then competed against 40-plus other teams at the National Finals.
They went through three rounds at the National Finals.
In each round, students were presenting in front of judges that worked in marketing careers. including the Director of Marketing for Fortune 500 and Zoetis, and agriculture business professors from Cal Poly (SLO) and Cornell University.
As part of their prize for winning the national championship, Miller, Ward and Williams all were rewarded with $1,000 scholarships.
