House makes AMS student grand champion

By Art Lawler Cedar Creek Pilot

A 13-year-old Athens Middle School student recently built his first house.

It took him all of 45 days.

And Wednesday evening, a judge at the Henderson County Livestock Show liked it well enough to give Scott Schultz the grand champion prize in the Grand Sale division of the Agriculture Mechanics competition.

Schultz’ special house had earlier captured first place in the Ornamental Division before going up against all competition in the Grand Sale category.

“We started building it from scratch,” Schultz said after the judging. “I feel good about it, but I got a little bit nervous for awhile.”

The 14-by-16-foot house has one living room and two lofts — one at the front of the house and one at the back.

With some help from his dad, Schultz said he was able to finish the $5,200 project in 45 days.

The Agriculture Mechanics competition produced twice the number of entries as a year ago (24), according to this year’s judge, Richard Smith, who said the quality was also better.

The judge complimented all the participants.

“You guys put this old man through a lot today,” Smith said. “The entries are much better than last year and it’s obvious you kids have put a lot of work into these projects. All of you did a fantastic job. I see a lot of stuff here I’d like to have.”

Other grand champions named Wednesday included Tucker Conway, a 17-year-old Eustace senior, and 16-year-old sophomore Ethan Grimes, who teamed up for first place and the grand prize in trailers for their black 24-foot, lowboy gooseneck trailer.

In the non-sale Ag equipment category, Ryan Mascorro, a 17-year-old junior, and Taylor Conrad, a 17-year-old senior from Frankston, teamed up to produce a three-in-one roller bender, good for tubing, sheet metal and round pipe. It won the non-sale grand championship.

“It’s good for hay rings or gates that have an arc,” said Conrad.

Other big winners included:

• an unchallenged but beautifully restored 1947 Massey Tractor. It was the lone entry in the restoration category, but a group of Mabank FFA students managed to put together a brightly painted tractor, just the same.

The tractor had been donated by a Caddo Mills man. It was in pretty bad shape until Zachary McDonald, 17, Bobby Terry, 17, and Dakota Duke restored it to near perfection.

“We restored it as close as we could to the original,” said McDonald.

It came out of the factory with a six-volt system, but someone had installed a 12-volt system. The Mabank FFA boys restored it to its original six-volt system, sand blasted the wheels, then coated them with a “straw yellow” cover that complements the bright red body of the tractor and the outside of its motor parts. The man who donated the tractor will soon get it back with the bonus of the major restoration job.

• Hunter Stout, a 17-year-old Malakoff student who won fourth place for his 300-gallon agriculture spray. Its nozzle sprays a 30-foot area. Stout said he had to get a license from the state because such trailers often contain Anhydrous Ammonia, which is used heavily in the manufacture of methamphetamine product.

• Billy Crocker, a 16-year-old sophomore from Eustace, and Brady Tindel, a 15-year-old freshman, whose caramel-colored gooseneck trailer won second place in the trailer category.

• an entrance gate, which won second in its division. “It was very difficult to build mathematically,” said Tracy Sims, who built the eye-catching fence for the Brownsboro FFA.

The gate features a white star in the middle, surrounded by a red border. Bars surrounding the circle had to be meticulously measured.

“We basically had to lay the star on the ground and go from there,” said Sims, who helped build the gate, along with Jimbo Duncan and Caleb Loggins.

• a fourth-place ribbon won by Michael Jones of Eustace, who displayed a blue trailer with aluminum flooring that attracted a lot of attention.

• another fourth-place finish with Tucker Conway of Eustace and Billy Crocker partnering on a full pull-behind box blade, which transports and smooths dirt, in another category

• and finally, ClayCee Kjeldgaard of Cross Roads, who took third place with a trailer he and Jerrod Rachel built together. Cody Bass stood in for his best friend Rachel, who has been missing since Monday after a boating mishap. The red, 18-foot, 78-inch wide trailer has 5,295 pound axles to load.

Cross Roads students and parents decided not to comment on the mishap or the project, saying they haven’t given up hope that Rachel will be found alive.

About 100 Cross Roads residents gathered around the trailer Wednesday to console one another and to honor their missing student and neighbor.