The Strawberry Festival is an annual community event that celebrates the strawberry harvest in the Hillsborough area. Everything from rides and attractions to free entertainment is presented at the Strawberry Festival. Newsome’s Future Farmers of America will be a part of the Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales with various animals and plants to be shown this year.

   Kylie Boyette, a senior and Newsome’s FFA secretary, will be showing an Angus X Simmental steer at this year’s Strawberry Festival.

    Ciera Diaz, a sophomore and Newsome FFA treasurer, will be showing ten three-gallon Podocarpus plants at the festival. Diaz has been watering, fertilizing and pruning her plants daily to prepare for the festival.

   “I have been a part of FFA for five years now,” says Diaz, “I first got involved in sixth grade when I had my first agriculture class. My teacher shared all that you could do within FFA, and I knew it was something I wanted to get involved with from there. That year, I showed my first pig. After that, I became an officer, competed in many Career Development Events and showed chickens and plants.”

   While the Strawberry Festival is not until March, contestants in the Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales have been preparing for months to ensure the best outcome from the experience.

   “Before I even got my steer, I had to build a pen for him which took three to four days,” says Boyette, “After that, I had to start halter breaking him and getting him used to people. It took hours and hours of working and training my steer to walk with the proper formation and stand with the correct stance. I also have to make sure that the food I’m giving him will give him the correct build.”

   Boyette has been a part of FFA and shown at the Strawberry Festival for five years. “It’s an amazing learning experience that teaches good work ethic, responsibility and budgeting,” says Boyette.

   Boyette oversees keeping a record of all of Newsome’s FFA meetings, as well as dates and events going on around the area from different FFA chapters. As secretary, Boyette must also discuss and plan fundraising events with secretaries from other FFA chapters.

   “Showing at the Strawberry Festival is just an amazing experience overall, ” says Diaz, “You get to meet so many nice people, and everyone helps each other out. You get to enjoy the atmosphere, great foods and rides while also having the thrill of showing off your project.”

   FFA has been a part of many Newsome students’ lives for years now. Getting to be a part of the Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales is a whole new experience that presents unique challenges and conquers.

   “At the Strawberry Festival there is a big barn where the animals are kept and cared for until show time,” Boyette says, “You have to go to the festival grounds everyday to walk your animal, feed your animal, and clean out their pen. If you are showing plants, all you have to do is go and water your plants.”

   The Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales not only teaches good work ethic, but how to be persistent and communicate better. Simply being a part of FFA teaches members skills they will need for a lifetime.

   “I have learned leadership skills, responsibility, how to communicate better and more from FFA. Things that you never think you would learn from FFA, you do,” says Diaz.

   Depending on what a member of FFA is showing at the Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales, one can earn anywhere from $300 to $8,000. Students from the Newsome FFA chapter have been working hard to ensure the best outcome from the Strawberry Festival Youth Livestock Shows and Sales this year.