Submitted Photo Rugby High FFA Advanced Ag Mechanics team members pose with their state trophies. Left to right are Thatcher Volk, Carson Mattern, Zach Jaeger and Kordell Kraft.

Long days spent studying farm machinery have earned a team of four Rugby High FFA chapter members a trip to the FFA National Convention, set for Oct. 27-30 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Rugby High seniors Zach Jaeger, Kordell Kraft and Thatcher Volk will join their former schoolmate Carson Mattern to compete in the Advanced Ag Mechanics contest Oct. 27. Mattern, who graduated RHS last May, attends the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton.

Sixteen other Rugby FFA chapter members will make the 17-hour trip by bus to the convention to cheer the team on. The ag mechanics team will fly to the competition.

“We’re going to do (Catepillar Equipment) diagnostics, where they give us a hydraulic pump that we have to take apart and put back together; there will be questions about symbols; then, there will be a welding part,” Volk said, describing the work they’d be judged on in the contest. “We’re not 100 percent sure about what kind of welding we’re going to do. We know we have to tap and die some stuff.”

“There are individual parts of the competition and you can place individually, and then you place as a team as well,” Volk added.

Team Advisor Kasey Okke said the contest has five components, which team members completed virtually. Okke said in the competition, team members would read blueprints, fabricate and cut different metal objects and drill holes in other parts. The team would work on the hydraulic system of a Caterpillar skid steer as well. “And they’ll take a 15-question exam on hydraulic schematic symbols,” Okke said. “Then, they’re going to have to do some troubleshooting and labeling of parts and what they do. They’re going to get a description of a part and what it does and they’re going to have to go match that up with the part on the skid steer.”

The team members gathered in Rugby High’s ag classroom, where they had done lots of preparation for competitions. “It’s a pretty good feeling to make it this far,” Kraft said of their trip to nationals. “I know Thatcher and I competed in basic and intermediate ag mechanics before. All of us come from agricultural backgrounds. It’s kind of rewarding to get to this point in the competition.”

Rugby’s Advanced Ag Mechanics team took the state title June 10.

“There’s definitely a lot of hard work in building up to this to be able to come here and be able to get to nationals and compete,” Volk said. “It’s one of those things that you do in your lifetime that you’ll always remember. Looking on the wall, you see past teams that have competed and it’ll be crazy to see that we’ll be up there someday,” Volk said of rows of plaques displaying the names of past state degree holders and competition winners in the classroom.

Both Kraft and Jaeger said they intend to study diesel mechanics after they graduate high school. Volk said, “I’m not 100 percent sure, but I’d like to do something in an ag-related field.”

“Carson (Mattern) is going to school for electrical wiring,” Okke said.

Jaeger, who lives with his family on a farm south of Rugby, said he was the newest team member. “I’ve always been involved in FFA but this is my first time in ag mechanics as a competition. I’ve been trying to keep up with (Volk and Kraft). They’ve got a little more experience,” Jaeger said.

The three team members said they and Mattern put hours of hard work and study into preparing for the competition.

“They got together and decided this would be their goal,” Okke said. “They had the common goal of winning state and making it to nationals and they never missed a practice.”

Okke said team members met before school at 7 a.m. on the days they had ag mechanics class. “They went from 7:30 to about 10 o’clock in the morning practicing those days,” Okke said. “Then, as soon as school got out for the summer about two weeks before we competed at state, they were able to meet at 7 p.m. So, they were here from about 7 p.m. to about 10 p.m. a couple of nights a week practicing for this contest. And they all live on a farm or help out on a farm, so that was about the only time we could meet. So, they made a commitment and nobody missed a practice. Kudos to these guys.”

Okke said in competitions, FFA teams receive both team and individual scores in their events.

“There were 128 competitors (at state), Okke said. “Individually, they finished one, three, four and 17 out of 128. There’s a lot to be proud of there.”

Okke said he also learned that Rugby High’s Advanced Ag Mechanics team is among the top 20 in the nation.

Okke explained the team would only be allowed to compete once in the Advanced Ag Mechanics event. FFA rules prohibit repeat appearances in the same events by individuals and teams.

“This is their one shot (at a national championship in their event),” Okke said.

Okke said he’s traveled to Indianapolis for “three or four” national conventions, once for a national horse-judging event, once for a range-judging event and as an advisor. Okke said a team from Rugby High competed in ag mechanics at nationals “about five years ago.”

Team members would have opportunities to see the sights around Indianapolis as well, Okke said, noting he planned a side trip to the Indianapolis Speedway and possibly Civil War history sites. FFA members will also have an opportunity to take in a rodeo and concert when they attend.

Okke said not every high school chapter has teams who make it to nationals.

“Some people can go their whole career without having a team go to nationals,” Okke said. “So, it’s pretty special. It’s cool. It definitely is not an every year thing and maybe for some people, it’s once in a lifetime.”