ASHLAND, Ohio – Senior Brad Burns and sophomore Chris Krause, members of the Mapleton FFA tractor trouble shooting team, won the state competition at Northwestern College.
The Mapleton team competed against nine other district winning teams that qualified for the state contest. In the history of the Mapleton FFA, this is the first state contest ever won by the chapter. Burns and Krause will receive a $5,000 scholarship for Northwestern College.
At the district level, the team took first place out of 14 teams in the district tractor trouble shooting contest. Krause took first place and Burns took second.
At the contest, each team has 20 minutes to find two problems specifically wrong with a tractor. There are five tractors each team has to fix and each tractor is worth 50 points.
Besides working on the tractor, the teams are judged on their safety procedures being practiced while working, their problem solving techniques and a fifty question test.
The team practices at school by looking over past test questions and at Ashland Implement, where Mike Bagano sets up practice tractors.
