Franklin Monroe FFA members Mason Lair and Ty Riffle listen as they are given the specific details concerning the mechanical issues on a mini excavator at the contest.

Submitted photo

PITSBURG — On Wednesday, Jan. 24, Franklin Monroe-MVCTC attended the 2023 Tractor Trouble-Shooting county competition. One of the two teams consisted of senior, Mason Lair and Junior, Ty Riffle. The second team consisted of two freshmen: Forrest Fourman and Jacob Baker.. In the contest, you learn mechanical skills, equipment maintenance, hand tools, and troubleshooting skills. This contest is a very beneficial learning experience for students competing in the contest. Being able to identify the problems of agricultural equipment is important to learn as an FFA student.

The county contest was held at Koenig’s in Greenville. This shop provided the students with access to a variety of equipment with which to test their troubleshooting and diagnostic skills. The team of two work together to understand the customer scenario and then they communicate with each other as well as the judge to explain the procedures that they are going through to fix the issues. They are given 20 minutes to find and repair two issues per station. Mason Lair and Ty Riffle placed first at the county contest and were able to represent Franklin Monroe at the District Contest that was held at the Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua.

There were 22 teams that competed at the District contest. Just like at the county contest, teams were tasked with diagnosing and fixing two issues with five different pieces of equipment. At the conclusion of this event, Lair and Riffle placed second and narrowly missed qualifying for the state competition. They would like to take this opportunity to thank Randy and Grant Brown, Phillip Campbell, and Koenig’s for all of their assistance in helping prepare the team for the event.