District VII of the Washington State FFA Association and the Washington Association of Agriculture Educators stretches from Leavenworth in South to Oroville in North encompassing 15 high schools in NCW.  District VII would like to highlight some FFA members who earned awards and recognize our program winners for 2013. 

Lupe Villasenor of Chelan serves as the District VII FFA President, she has also been chosen as the District VII Outstanding Sr. Member and Scholarship winner for the 2013.  She receives a $500 scholarship for the pursuit of a higher education.  

Three members were selected as District Stars in the State FFA Degree Program.   Cameron Cavadini of Bridgeport was selected as the District VII Star Farmer his SAE project involves the production of Beef Cattle, Wheat, and Horses on his families Pearl Hill ranch.   Chad Miller of Chelan was selected as the District VII Star in Agribusiness.  His SAE involves the operation of Miller Paddle Boats and outdoor recreation sales and rental company.   Lupe Villasenor was selected as the District VII Star in Placement and her SAE has involved working for area orchardist during cherry harvest and working and Lake Chelan Winery.   All three of these young people qualified as State Star Finalists, District VII was the only one of the 9 districts in Washington to have all three of candidates be finalists, and will be featured in the Stars Over Washington presentation during the 84^th Annual Washington FFA State Convention on the WSU campus in Pullman May 9-11.    25 members from District VII earned their State FFA Degree—1   Bridgeport, 2 Omak, 5 Wenatchee, 7 Chelan, and 11 Tonasket.  These members have to meet rigorous requirements to earn their state degree including taken a minimum of 360 hours of Ag Ed coursework, have 2 years of consecutive membership, earned or invested $1000.00 or 1000 hours in their Supervised Agriculture Education project,  participated in at 5 activities above the chapter level, and completed 25 hours of community service. 

Proficiency Awards are given to FFA members who have developed quality SAE projects.  The District VII members who qualified for recognition at the state level are:

          Dalton Wahl, Tonasket Placement in Beef Production

          Cameron Cavadini, Bridgeport, Entrepreneurship in Diversified Ag

Production

          Breanna Howell and Karlie Henneman, Tonasket, Equine Production

          Jessica Puente, Tonasket; Jesus Rodriguez, Chelan; Grace Maldonado,

Tonasket; and Claire Thorton, Tonasket.  Placement in Tree

Fruit Production

          Tonya Nelson, Tonasket, Swine Production

Two individuals were selected to receive the Honorary State FFA Degree Adam Corum of Bridgeport and Buck Lewis of Cashmere.

Teachers and Community members were also selected for District VII WAAE recognition. 

Outstanding Young Member—Darla Sheppard, Wenatchee High

School

          Outstanding Teacher—Lonnie Dixon, Okanogan High School

          Outstanding Program—Tonasket High School, Matt Deebach,

Instructor

          Outstanding Administrator—Steve McKenna, Cascade High School

          Legislator of the Year—Joel Kretz, Wacounda,

          Outstanding Cooperation Award—Rick Hanson, Chelan

          Lifetime Achievement Award—Dave Odenrider, Wenatchee High

School, Retired      

The District winners of these awards will complete applications to be sent on for regional and national award consideration.