This year at the North Carolina State Fair, Wakefield High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program put in the hard work necessary for the group to take home top marks in the event’s annual Plant and Garden competition. Their tireless efforts to prepare their display were a culmination of teamwork and expertise in the field, and display how their time spent at school is paying off.

The majority of the work on this project was done by the students themselves, with FFA President Lindsay Hahn leading the way. The process to plan out the display began for the group in June, over four months before the state fair opened and their exhibit had to be ready. 

“Beginning in July, we started brainstorming ideas and putting together a team,” Hahn said. “In September, we had to start prepping the garden, … then all the bigger components of actually putting our plan in place happened in the beginning of October.”

With such a big display of a wide variety of plants to show, lots of work was put into sourcing them. This process was a big team effort that would alter what exactly their display would end up looking like. Not only were the members of Wakefield’s FFA chapter responsible for these plants, but also numerous local businesses who would provide plants. Samantha Kuhlemeier, a senior in FFA, details what this process consists of.

“We had to go to a ton of nurseries and ask if they would allow us to use their plants,” Kuhlemeier said. “[The plants] we needed kind of depended on our design, so we had to rearrange [the plan] based on what plants we had access to.”

At the head of the entire operation stands Sara Veazie, the FFA advisor at Wakefield. This year was the school’s first participation in the competition, but this unfamiliarity did not thwart the group’s excitement with their chances going into the contest. Despite not knowing exactly what their display would look like or how stiff the competition would be, Veazie shares that the group was optimistic nonetheless.

“It was our first year competing since I started teaching at Wakefield, so we were excited,” Veazie said.

While the project was largely a step into the unknown for the students, being able to compare their work to that of their competition helped to ease their nerves. Junior Sara Wenger held a leading role in the project and was confident in the team’s ability to best their opponents.

“We knew the other competitors had done this before so we did get nervous,” Wenger said. “But once everything came together, we gained more confidence in our ability to win.”

Despite their uncertainty, Wakefield’s work paid off, and the group was ultimately able to win the contest, securing a grand prize of 900 dollars for the organization. Best of all, the group was able to walk away with more than just a check. Opportunities like the State Fair’s Plant and Garden competition provide students with a chance to grow as a team, a trait that no amount of prize money can ever replace.

“This competition was beneficial because each and every one of us were able to learn something new from it and gain real world experience in the design and installation of landscaping,” Hahn said. “But the biggest thing the team learned as a whole was how to communicate and truly put all of our strengths together to be the most successful team.”