HERMISTON — Three teams of Hermiston High School FFA students are leaving next week to compete in the 94th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis.

Sandy McKay, Hermiston High School agricultural science teacher and FFA advisor, is in his second year with FFA. He said the school’s FFA is able to send youths to national competition every two or three years.

“It’s no small feat,” he said.

To qualify for Nationals, students must get through district competition, state competition and regional competition. For Hermiston students, reaching nationals meant going head to head with students from states throughout the American west.

Hermiston is sending three teams. Two of those teams won in regionals and will advance in Indianapolis. In all, 18 students will travel to Naptown.

The Hermiston teams are “advanced” teams — sophomores, juniors and seniors. Of the 29 categories in FFA, these students are competing in “career and leadership events.” There are different rules and goals for these events, helping students with job skills.

The first team is the “nursery/landscape team,” and students in this team placed fifth in regionals.

“It’s still a great accomplishment,” McKay said, though the team will not advance. They were, technically, in a national round by virtue of this year’s unusual situation.

Another team is “agricultural issues,” a seven-person team that puts on a skit on an ag issue. The topic is an issue at the forefront of technology — vertical farming.

In traditional farming, people grow crops outdoors in fields, but vertical farming is growing crops indoors, often in unused factory buildings. Farmers use hydroponics to grow crops indoors. Grow lights and artificial irrigation are needed in vertical farming.

Another Hermiston team will take the stage at nationals to debate the pros and cons of switching to vertical farming.

The third team, in the “agricultural communications” category is a four-person finals-qualified team. Students in this competition put themselves into the role of consultants and develop a written media plan in front of a panel of judges. They will have to convince judges to hire them for their services.

Kylie Temple, a 16-year-old junior, is one of the students planning on going to nationals.

“I’m beyond excited,” she said.

Though she has been in the FFA since her freshman year, 2021 is her first year travelling to the big competition. COVID-19 ended her dreams of this competition previously, as she had qualified but was not able to go.

She has heard many stories of the competition and said she would like to talk to people from all over the U.S.

She is a little nervous, she said, but she is confident she will do well at nationals and even gain useful experience. Temple said she wants to have a career in agriculture business and marketing.

“I cannot ever see myself leaving the agricultural industry,” she said. Her trip to nationals is one step toward further work in that industry.