On Saturday, high school students from all over the Central Valley and some from the Central Coast competed in the Don Laux Memorial Citrus Judging contest.
One hundred forty students met at the Porterville Fairgrounds bright and early at 9 a.m. to compete in citrus judging. The judging includes students deciding the best groups of oranges, lemons, mandarins, and trees. Cindy Brown and the Porterville College ag team have hosted this competition for 8 years. Such an event takes a lot of help and support. The Laux Family sponsored the contest in memory of Don Laux. Nate Laux, a Porterville High School alumnus, was co-chair for the competition. Nate Laux is a former State FFA Citrus Judging winner and works in the citrus industry as a pest control advisor.
WN Citrus also donated to the event.
Before the contest started, students and teachers were able to discuss their best methods one last time. FFA students were then walked into the building where the contest was being held, led by the PC Aggies. Students went through each station and decided which group was best.
“A lot of the judging here is eye appeal,” said Brown. After making their decisions, students had time to write their reasonings. After coming up with their reasonings, students had time to explain their reasons individually to a judge.
All of the judges who participated were local growers. Judges included Roger Drummond, a retired teacher; Matt Leider, Director of Farming at BeeSweet Citrus; Grower Kurt Parsons from Parsons custom farming; Cassandra Honeyman, Porterville Fair Livestock office manager; Amanda Farquharson, Pest Control Advisor; and Brenna Galloway, a Baylor University student and past State Citrus Winner. Local longtime farmer and grower Bill Bennett also continues to contribute to the event.
After students finished judging, lunch was provided by MHS ag teacher James Corbett.
More than 20 different schools attended, including Monache, Reedley, O'Neals, Hanford, and Central. Results included Monache FFA taking home first place for both the A and B contests. A team-high individual 1st place went to Ashea Lucero from Monache A and team-high individual 1st place went to Jorge Cortez from Monache. The perpetual trophy also went to Monache's FFA program for winning the A and B divisions.
Monache's A team was made up of Molly Withrow, Jazmin Rocha, Andrew Gutierrez and Ashea Lucero. Monache's B team included Jorge Cortez, Alyssa Bilenna and Meghan Lucero.
The success of this event would not have been possible without the PC Aggies. President Anely Morales and Vice President Tristan Galvan led the PC Aggies club. Others who contributed were Armando Lara, Antony Rodriguez, Anastasia Silva, Thania Cisneros and her daughter Nadiya, Adrian Prado, Sohia Jeronimo and Aurora Bern.
This contest is crucial for local FFA students. As Porterville is such a big ag community, youth need to be introduced to such activities.
PC ag instructor Micheal Leishman said he hopes to grow the ag program at Porterville College as working in the ag industry makes up a lot of the work force here in the Central Valley. Contests like this are just the way to do it.
Contest results were: A Teams: First – Monache; second – Pioneer Valley, Santa Maria; third – El Diamante; fourth – North; fifth – Golden West
A Team Individual: First – Ashea Lucero, Monache; second – Micah Bradley, Hanford; third – Andrew Gutierrez, Monache; fourth – Frankie Velazquez; fifth – Andrea Guzman, Pioneer Valley.
B Teams: First - Monache; second -Visalia Technical Early College; third – Pioneer Valley; fourth – O'Neals; fifth – Lindsay.
B Individual – First, Jose Cortez, Monache; second – Meghan Lucero, Moncahe; third – Alyssa Billena, Monache; fourth – Garrett Kester, Visalia Technical; fifth - Aliza Lopez, Pioneer Valley.