In a proud and long-awaited moment, four students from the Agricultural Sciences program at the Wood County Technical Center (WCTC) brought home a first-place finish from the 2025 West Virginia State FFA Career Development Event (CDE) competition. The event, held last month at West Virginia State University, tested students across a range of agricultural skills in the competitive Agronomy category.
The winning team consisted of sophomore Kloey Miller, freshmen Neil Arnold and Morgan Wicker—students in the Intro to Agriculture class—and junior Addison Haines, who is currently enrolled in the science of agriculture and animal production courses. Together, they achieved something that hadn’t been done at WCTC since 2005.
“I challenged them to try to end that 20-year drought, and these students really took that to heart,” said Agricultural Education Instructor Ben Goff. “Every one of them has been frustrated at some point, tired, burned out, and they’d come back the next day and just hit it again.”
The CDE tested the students in highly technical and knowledge-based areas, including soil testing, insect identification, plant identification, and recognizing plant disorders. As part of the challenge, competitors were even surprised with an unexpected written exam.
“We knew going into the competition that things wouldn’t be exactly as we expected,” said Haines. “So it was kind of just that feeling that, yeah, there’s going to be things we haven’t seen before, but we didn’t know it was going to be there.”
Each student competed individually at separate stations to avoid team collaboration, with each test contributing to the overall team score. Arnold earned the top individual score, but all members emphasized that the collective team performance is what truly mattered.
“Dr. Goff has always preached to us, all four of us actually, that teams go to Nationals, individuals do not,” Haines added. “So it didn’t matter what we placed individually. All of us together is what really won this competition, and we couldn’t do it without each other.”
Wicker echoed that sentiment, calling the win more than just a moment of glory. For her and her teammates, it signals a positive shift for the future of their FFA chapter.
“This team win will be a change in our chapter,” she said. “Others are seeing us succeed, and hopefully they’ll hop on that bandwagon and succeed with us.”
Their win also earned them an invitation to compete at the National FFA Agronomy competition, scheduled to take place this fall in Indianapolis. Now, the team has set its sights on a bold new goal—becoming the first West Virginia team to win a national title in Agronomy.
“We want to be the first West Virginia state team to win nationals in our category,” Wicker said with determination.
As for their instructor, Goff is already brimming with pride, regardless of what happens next.
“No matter what, I’m happy for them,” he said. “Seeing them take on the material and really devote themselves, and seeing the progress they made—I couldn’t be more proud.”
With their hard work, dedication, and team spirit, these four students have not only brought a trophy back to their school—they’ve inspired a community and paved the way for future agricultural success.
