Hundreds of students participate in ag book contests

Powell students see wins at state, district levels

Posted 5/25/21

Each year, the Park County Farm Bureau Federation hosts a series of coloring, poster and marketing contests for area elementary school students, usually drawing about 20 entries.

But participation …

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Hundreds of students participate in ag book contests

Powell students see wins at state, district levels

Posted

Each year, the Park County Farm Bureau Federation hosts a series of coloring, poster and marketing contests for area elementary school students, usually drawing about 20 entries.

But participation skyrocketed this year, as students in Powell, Cody, Meeteetse, Clark and Wapiti submitted 590 entries.

“We were absolutely blown away,” said Park County Farm Bureau President Abby Shuler.

While the surge in entries created some new challenges — for instance, it was impossible to lay out all the drawings on a living room floor and the judging took a couple nights — the local Farm Bureau was thankful.

“We’re really excited about it,” Shuler said.

And the submissions didn’t just impress in terms of quantity but also quality, as Powell students saw success at the regional and state level.

Garrett Jolley of Southside Elementary School won the poster contest for second- and third-graders, with Violet Peterson of Parkside as the runner-up. Meanwhile, Anh Trinh of Westside was the runner-up in the marketing ad contest for fourth- and fifth-graders.

All three were also winners within the bureau’s Northwest District, which includes the Big Horn Basin, plus Fremont County. Other district winners included Aubree Morton of Westside, who topped the field of kindergartners and first-graders in the coloring contest. Meanwhile, Beth Black of Southside joined Jolley and Peterson as a district winner in the poster contest, while Gracey Perry of Westside and Star Potts of Parkside joined Trinh in the winner’s circle for marketing ads.

State winners received a $50 gift card while the runners-up received $25. District winners received coupons for a large one-topping pizza from Pizza Hut, while county-level winners received certificates for a free blizzard at Dairy Queen. State and district winners also received a copy of the 2021 ag book: “Better Together… ‘Digging It’ with Dairy & Beef, Building Healthy Bodies & Brains,” written by teenage twins Rianna and Sheridan Chaney of Elwood, Nebraska.

The prizes didn’t end there, either. Given the unprecedented levels of local participation, the Park County Farm Bureau wanted to reward every student who submitted an entry — and it found a willing partner in McDonald’s, which donated a free ice cream cone to all of the participants.

Shuler expressed appreciation to the businesses for stepping up with the generous donations, to area teachers for working the contest and related curriculum into their classrooms and to the Farm Bureau members for their work.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “We were fortunate that we had the amount [of entries] that we did and that the schools participated the way that they did.”

The contest is part of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation’s long-running annual Ag Books for Kids program, which puts a new ag-related book in the state’s elementary schools each year. It’s been an unusual two years for the program, with COVID-19 disrupting last year’s contest and then the surge in participation this year.

“We’ll see what next year brings,” Shuler said.

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