Agriculture teachers Megan Crandall and Avery Schoos held an animal showing for lambs, goats, steer and swine in the barn behind the school on Sunday, December 8. When looking for a judge to be at the show for all of the species and breeds they found Ashlee Tanguay. Tanguay has been an agriculture teacher for the last ten years, and she is currently an agriculture teacher at Holland ISD.
The lambs were first to be judged, with senior Julia Paddenburg winning Champion Lamb Showman.
“The Judge stated that I had a beautifully structured lamb and I was able to show the muscle, protein, and leg hair all at once and I showed off in all of the lambs’ aspects with a calm and cool manner,” Paddenburburg said. “Staying calm and collected in a show is crucial for showmanship.”
Despite winning champion, Paddenburg was overjoyed to ask Tanguay what all her mistakes were to improve for the next show, and what made her stick out the most out of the rest of the competitors.
As the contestants for goat showing started to walk around the ring, they stared down Tanguay with passion in their eyes and the desire to win. Sophomore Sophie Sousa won the goat division.
“Being the first to shake the judges hand is definitely a one of a kind feeling,” Sousa said. “All the tears and patience that lead to getting these animals where you want is definitely worth it for the buckle at the end. Competing against all of my amazing fellow FFA members is definitely a privilege I would not trade for the world. It’s because of them I am able to succeed in the end.”
When Tanguay was trying to figure out who deserved Grand Champion, she stated that she had never been stared down the way that she was that morning—Sousa’s eyes never left her, which led to Sousa taking home the champion award.
Junior Travis Cykala believes that showing two species of animals—steer and swine—is tough to balance, but showing was worth it.
“When I was showing my steer I knew I had a pretty good chance at winning because I know my steer well enough to where it will listen to what I have been training it to do,” Cykala said. “When I got asked what side of my steer got up first as a showmen question I knew I had that buckle secured. Once the judge went up to me and shook my hand and told me I had just won champion steer showmen I was relieved that my work had paid off.”
The final three contestants Tanguay chose for the swine category were junior Kaylie Escobar, junior Joey Saccone and senior Ashlyn Eschberger. Her final choice for Champion Swine Showman was Escobar.
“When I first got into the ring I was determined to win so when I did win Champion Swine Showman I felt so relieved and proud,” Escobar said. “I worked super hard to win and I put a lot of effort into all of my pigs. It was a hard decision to pick out of my three pigs, which one I was going to use for this show and I’m glad I picked June.”
