INDIANAPOLIS – The stress of nationals is finally over for the Woodbury FFA.

On Oct. 30 at 8 in the morning, Nonnewaug’s national competitors piled into a coachbus bound for Indianapolis, Indiana and the National FFA Convention.

There were three main team events that took place at nationals for the Woodbury FFA. One of the events included the Mechanics CDE team, including Devon Zaptaka, Nathan Hayes, Noah Zupan, and Noah Blood.

The team placed in the bronze position, and individually, Zupan earned silver recognition while the other three teammates placed bronze.

“We didn’t know what to expect going into it,” Blood said. “We didn’t do the worst, and we beat six other teams, so we didn’t get last.”

Quiz Bowl is a quiz-type competition about the facts of the FFA. Nonnewaug’s team included Luciano Pedros, Macey Chmiel, and Boe Stokes. The team placed eighth out of 68 teams. Individually, Pedros finished 16th, Chmiel was 27th, and Boe Stokes placed 33rd.

“The lack of knowing what we were getting into was stressful,” Chmiel said, “but we studied very hard and it definitely showed with our scores.”

The Conduct of Chapter Meetings team competes by organizing and debating FFA-related events and topics. The Woodbury team includes Pedros, Isabelle Longley, Christa Freel, Connor Cabeleira, Mia Layseca, Sabrina Myshrall, and Maddie Roberts. The team earned bronze recognition.

“We could have done better,” Freel said, “[but] given the circumstances, we did the best we could.” 

The stress of nationals has passed this year, but others are just itching to get there again next year.