Bright future seen for agriculture students at Sussex Tech

Sparta - Environmental horticulture students from the Sussex County Technical School FFA chapter were recognized for their accomplishments throughout the 2005-2006 school year at the 77th annual FFA convention, held last month at Cook College in New Brunswick. In the landscape design competition, the final competition of the season, three designs by Sussex Tech students placed in the top five. This marks the seventh consecutive year that the Sussex Tech chapter has placed three of its drawings in the top five in statewide competition. Junior Karson Sybesma and seniors Christopher Perst and Christopher Grembowiec were the three finalists from Sussex Tech. Sybesma finished with an overall second place in the event and received a cash award. No stranger to the FFA competition, Sybesma was also part of the first-place turf management team of 2004, for which he received a scholarship opportunity to the Cook College turf management program. Each chapter is allowed three contestants to enter the landscape design competition, sponsored by the N.J. FFA and coordinated by Jan Traynor of the County College of Morris landscape program. Students are given an outline, property survey and customer requirements to fully design a landscape plan. The plan must include patios, walkways, plant material and spatial relationships. The top five drawings are chosen for the final leg of the competition, which includes an oral presentation to a panel of professional judges. Final results are based 50 percent on the quality of the drawing and 50 percent on the oral presentation. The three finalists from Sussex Tech submitted their drawings using a professional computer-aided drafting (CAD) program to plot and print the final product. “The most challenging part of this drawing was learning the CAD commands and meeting the time constraint to complete the project,” noted Perst. The computer-aided drafting program has a large database of trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, perennials, and annuals. Elevation images were also constructed using an imaging program. This feature allowed students to visualize their drawings from a view looking straight on to the front of the home. “The imaging feature helped me to understand the balancing of a front view on a home,” sayd Sybesma, who also built a three-dimensional model of his landscape plan, which he used in a demonstration during the convention. Earlier, in a competition held in November at Rutgers, sophomore Matt French received a silver medal for his performance in the N.J. State FFA turf management competition. He also received a scholarship award for the Rutgers Cook College turf management program. The Sussex Tech turf team, of which also included William Vallone, Jimmy Welch and Emily Jobes, placed second overall in the state. Students in the environmental horticulture technology shop at Sussex Tech study landscape design, land usage, landscape management, turf management, golf course management, sports field management, heavy equipment operation, mechanical repair and plant science. Classroom instruction, coupled with hands-on activities, are practiced daily. The Sussex Tech chapter has officially adopted “Future for Agriculture” as its definition of the FFA symbol. The original FFA national symbol stood for “Future Farmers of America,” but the group now goes simply by “FFA.” The FFA is the largest student activity organization in the U.S. In New Jersey there are over 2000 members in chapters associated with schools that offer agricultural programs.