KINGSVILLE (March 21, 2024) — High School students from more than 20 South Texas counties will convene at Texas A&M University-Kingsville as the Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture and Natural Resources hosts the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Area X Applied Agriculture Engineering Contest Thursday, March 27.
The contest, which was created three years ago, consists of four-person teams competing in a welding competition and a 100-point test that will cover subjects such as welding theory and material costs. Teams finishing in the top three will move on to the state competition.
Texas A&M-Kingsville has hosted the Area X contest all three years.
“They have to score a certain level here to be able to move on to the state level. It’s a contest and the students come in pretty serious about it,” Associate Professor of Agricultural Education and Mechanics Dr. Steven Chumbley said. “They’re coming in with their PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), all their welding gloves, chip and hammers and everything else they need to compete. They are ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and they are ready to go. It’s cool to see kids put in the effort to compete in this event.”
Also on location will be competition sponsors and vendor setups available for participating teachers and students to visit.
About 80 students are set to compete and will be assisted by the college’s welding students.
The contest is seen as an effective way for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to meet and interact with prospective students and allow current students to talk about their experience at the university.
“Our welding class runs the event and that’s one of the best parts that goes beyond just us hosting those kids here,” Chumbley said. “One of our big missions is recruitment and retention and this contest serves both of them. It gets kids on campus, which is the best recruitment, and they are interacting with our students. Our students are the best recruiters we have.
“On the retention side, it gives our students some ownership of some of the things we are doing here,” Chumbley added. “We make them feel part of this place by giving them ownership over some of the things that we do.”
Sign-in for teams will begin at 8:15 a.m. the morning of the contest and the competition will begin at 9:15 a.m. at the Agriculture Mechanics Lab.
-TAMUK-