SODA students excel at national FFA competition

LOS LUNAS — Four School of Dreams Academy students in the school’s dairy cattle team not only qualified for the FFA National competition, but also placed sixth out of 47 talented teams from across the nation in the category.

A recent SODA graduate also received a prestigious recognition through the program.

“We were very much an underdog going into nationals, so even placing where we placed at nationals is crazy,” said SODA agriculture and FFA teacher Shannon Watling. “It was a very long year. A lot of blood, sweat and tears were put into this, and I’m very proud of them.”

SODA has competed in nationals once before in 2019 for an individual event, but this is the first year a team from SODA has competed at the national competition which was held in Indianapolis, Ind., this year from Oct. 23-26.

The team included senior Tamra Skopek, junior Ashley Hidalgo, and sophomores Jason Pareo and Josiah Vallejos. They were coached by Micaela Hidalgo and Susie Jones, of Jones Dairy, and advised by Watling.

“It was an honor, and it was really cool to experience it together,” said Skopek.

In the competition, the team was scored on dairy cattle evaluation, herd records, general dairy knowledge and a team activity.

“You judge (the cows) on things like their udder quality, how tall they are, how strong their feet and legs are…so there’s a few things that we need to look at,” said Hidalgo.

The team also had to study hard and do lots of reading in preparation for the quiz bowl on dairy industry topics and to analyze herd records. Though, the team activity is what the students are especially proud of, which they ranked fifth.

“For the team activity, we were given about 40 minutes to read through a scenario they gave us,” said Hidalgo. “The issue they gave us was the dairy farm we were looking at was having a lot of disease spread in their farm and a lot of fatality in their calves, and they wanted us to figure out what was wrong based on how their farm was run.”

The team then had to lead a presentation about their ideas to the judges and answer questions from them. After receiving the results, the team was thrilled and pleasantly surprised to find out they placed so well in the team activity.

“We haven’t really practiced team activity as much,” said Vallejos. “Our first time actually presenting a team activity practice was just a few nights before at the hotel.”

“We’ve had to overcome a few challenges, but as a team, we pulled through,” said Skopek.

One of the biggest challenges they had to navigate was the state competition being delayed in the spring due to a bird flu outbreak. This gave them less time to prepare for nationals when they found out they were going, so the team had to cram a lot of practice and studying into a few months.

“There were times where every single one of them were like, ‘why are we doing this still?’ but it all paid off when they walked out of that team activity. The smiles on their faces and their cheers … you would have thought we just won the Super Bowl,” Watling recalled.

While it’s clear the students are all talented and bright individuals, they agreed that perseverance was key to their success as well as the valuable knowledge and motivation the coaches provided.

“If it was not for Micaela Hidalgo and her crazy idea to have a dairy judging team and Susie Jones jumping in and helping us, we would not have been here,” said Watling.

“I think that (Watling) was definitely the glue that held us together,” added Pareo. “Especially when our coaches couldn’t be there, she always stepped up and really helped us a lot.”

SODA alumni Taylor Rolan was also recognized at the national FFA convention as an American Degree Recipient. She graduated from SODA in 2023 and now attends New Mexico State University where she is pursuing a degree in animal science.

Rolan said FFA students can earn multiple degree achievements through FFA and the American Degree is the top award of this sort you can earn.

“I did my projects on animals, but you can also do it on plants and ag mechanics,” said Rolan. “You have to show that you’re earning money and that you can put these all into records over the years. So each degree requires that to some extent, and each degree is a little harder than the last.”

According to a press release, this award is given to FFA members “who show the utmost dedication to the organization through their desire to develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.”

Less than 1 percent of FFA members achieve the American FFA Degree, the release states. This year, Rolan said there were 30 individuals in New Mexico who were awarded it, and she is the first from SODA to have received the award.

Rolan said she actually transferred to SODA in 8th grade to be a part of the robust agriculture program at the school, and she is “super excited” to have received the award.

“It didn’t really even sink in that I got the award until we were there in the stadium the morning of,” said Rolan. “Walking on the stage, seeing so many people … it was just so cool and surreal.”

Rolan said she has raised and sold lots of different livestock which contributed to her award because to be eligible, one has to have earned at least $10,000 or $2,000 in addition to working at least 2,250 hours outside of class time through a supervised agricultural experience.

“Recipients must also complete 50 hours of community service and demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities and civic involvement through the completion of a long list of FFA and community activities,” the release states.

“It’s definitely a good resume builder, especially for people who know what the American Degree is and what it takes to earn it,” she said.

Rolan said her passion for raising livestock is what motivates her to go above and beyond, and the support she receives from her family and Watling to pursue her goals has been a big inspiration as well.

While she cannot compete anymore, she looks forward to taking on more mentorship roles for aspiring FFA students to help them with skills such as showmanship and how to best take care of their animals.

“In my 21 years of teaching, she’s my first American (Degree recipient). She’s worked really hard for it and I’m so proud of her,” said Watling. “We have three students looking at getting their American Degree next year, so she’s actually paved the way and I’m just incredibly impressed by her and the push that she has.”