QUEEN CREEK, AZ — When the gates open at the Arizona State Fair on Friday, students from the Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter of Queen Creek High School (QCHS) are ready to compete.
The East Valley high school is home to more than 100 FFA members. According to Kashlyn Roepke, the FFA Secretary at QCHS, these students are proud to learn more about agriculture and its impact.
“It's the backbone of our economy. I mean, agriculture is our world, whether people want to admit it or realize it,” Roepke said. “So we're teaching kids about agriculture and the jobs within it, and about animals and plants and all the different things that they can do to help.”
Roughly 11,000 high school students participate in the FFA program across Arizona.
“FFA has a lot more to it than, we’re just a bunch of country kids that hang out and do country things,” Roepke said.
These high school students get hands-on experience raising livestock to compete or sell at the Arizona State Fair. The task can be difficult, Roepke told ABC15.
“It takes a lot. So we buy them when they're little, like nine months to a year. And then practice right away,” she said. “We get them used to us, we build a bond and a relationship so that he, the animals trust me, and I can trust them, and then we go to shows.”
Roepke’s showmanship and hard work with her cow, Fancy, have paid off. Both of them have been named champions at the Arizona State Fair.
But even for this tried and true competitor, raising livestock to sell at the fair isn't easy.
“It's hard. Like, they're just this big cow. And it's just a big baby, and we hang out and spend hours with it,” she said.
But knowing what she’s contributing to with the cows she raises encourages Roepke.
“So to me, that's my biggest accomplishment is being able to feed people and knowing that I raised good beef to feed somebody and keep them healthy,” she said.
