by Elizabeth Donegan, Veterinary Assistant, Class of 2026 & FFA Competitor

Future Farmers of America (FFA) is a leadership and service organization that focuses on bringing out the best in every individual who participates. Here in the Veterinary Assistant program at the Lawrence County CTC, we focus on animal-related competitions like horse evaluation, and veterinary science. This year our team of four put in the hard work to succeed at not only district level but also at state competition; as a result, we won second place! But what did it take to reach this level?

Our team, comprised of Jolenna Street, Gabrielle Treece, Callisto Kruger and me (Liz Donegan), studied both in and out of school – even on our drive to Penn State early Tuesday. We competed in four practicums, a team activity, and several tests which included topics like general veterinary knowledge, focusing mostly on equines and rabbits. In competition, we worked as a team going from room to room completing each task as we went. Each competition day was about 5 to 6 hours long. We worked very hard to get to where we are with some bumps in the road and maybe a few wrong turns during our competition, but we learned about the power of teamwork and the importance of perseverance in spite of our mistakes.

We had an absolute blast at Penn State. Mrs Yanak, our FFA Advisor, didn't just want our only focus to be on high-stress competition; she took us mini-golfing, strolled around the campus and town to show us what life on campus might be like, and brought board and card games for us to enjoy in our spare time.

This year's Pennsylvania FFA’s theme was “Dare to Be” and invited each FFA member what they dared to be. Throughout the week, this question floated around the minds of FFA chapters alike. The theme was more than just a job title that asked us what we wanted us to be when we grew up; instead, it asked us how “great” we dared to be! For me, I’d like to say that my Dare to Be is “persistent and dedicated.” Callisto thought hard about hers and replied that her Dare to Be is “determined”. Jolena Street's Dare to Be is “something someone tells you that you can't”. This FFA year was challenging with all the new changes being made. I think our school's theme would've been dared to be bold. We came into state competition and made a statement that LCCTC’s chapter was “Dare to Be Bold!” – all thanks to Ms. Yanak and this amazing team we've built.

Finally, once all the days of competition were done, we waited anxiously to hear our results. We woke up that day with a nervous anticipation for our results against the 19 other teams.

We knew we had a while to hear the results of our competition; Veterinary Science was alphabetically the last one to be called. As we sat waiting for our results, we all enjoyed the programming. We listened to fun songs, funny skits and jokes, and watched the other teams who have won.

As a result of our 2nd place standing for our Veterinary Science team, nothing is stopping us at the Big E in September, In Massachusetts. We are so excited to have earned the opportunity, for the first time in our chapter we have moved on to another level not just in competition but also in LCCTCs history.