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It was a exciting time for the 50 members of the Berthold FFA Chapter as they celebrated the return of eight of their own FFA members who traveled to the 82nd National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., at the end of October and came home with first place in the beef cattle judging contest and 17th overall in the nation.

It was the first time in several years that Berthold FFA members were able to travel to nationals to compete in the livestock contest, said Troy Enga, FFA adviser and vocational agriculture teacher at Lewis and Clark High School in Berthold.

"They did an excellent job and worked hard," he said. "They got up early in the morning and stayed up late at night working. They put forth a tremendous effort."

Held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the National FFA Livestock Judging Contest featured 43 teams from across the nation and more than 170 individual contestants who each vied to out-judge the rest of the group in the three animal categories of beef cattle, sheep and swine.

Attending on behalf of the Berthold chapter was Wyatt Hansen, now a freshman at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, Mason Lautenschlager, now a freshman at North Dakota State University, and Lewis and Clark students Ian Hall, a senior, junior Payton Lautenschlager and freshman Morgan Cummings, who served as an alternate. Accompanying the team were Enga and coach Zach Hall.

Both Lautenschlager brothers, Hansen and Ian Hall qualified for the national competition by winning the state livestock contest last March.

The team began preparing for nationals in August, holding weekly study sessions which continued on their way down to Indiana.

"We made stops on the way down to visit with people at South Dakota State University and other places that helped us get ready," said Hall, chapter president. "It was a long trip with a lot of car rides, but it was really fun."

The trip to nationals was especially important for Mason Lautenschlager, then a senior at Lewis and Clark.

"We'd had the potential to go (to nationals) since I was in the seventh grade, but we never all had a good day at the same time until this year," he said.

Unlike the one-day state competition, the national livestock competition was a two-day event.

Day one saw the four-person Berthold team conducting group evaluations on classes of sheep, swine and cattle, critiquing the animal on its visual appearance, bone and muscle structure and its breeding qualities. After the group evaluations, the individual members took a 50-question exam which tested their knowledge on a broad range of topics from the physical characteristics of the animals to marketing strategies.

Day two was all about the individual as Hall, Hansen and the Lautenschlager brothers each took turns evaluating the placement of two classes of swine, sheep and cattle and giving their oral justifications for their decisions.

New to the competition this year was the "practice" judging of goats, which will be officially added to the competition next year.

For their combined efforts, the team placed 17th out of 43 teams.

Individually, Payton Lautenschlager placed second in the competition and received a silver award along with his brother Mason. Hansen received a gold award and Hall a bronze award for their efforts.

Aside from the competition, the group also has the opportunity to participate in several other events at the convention including student workshops, career and collegiate expos, and career development events among others.

"The collegiate show was amazing. There were places (universities) from all over and people from everywhere. It was a great experience for me," said Hall, who said he plans to pursue a degree in animal sciences at North Dakota State University.

Several well-known speakers graced the stage during the convention, including keynote Mike Rowe, host of "Dirty Jobs" on The Discovery Channel, Andrew McCrea, host of "The American Countryside," a nationally syndicated radio show, and Josh Sundquist, a survivor of a rare bone cancer who went on to be named to the U.S. paralympic Ski Team which competed at the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy.

"I would encourage anyone able to go to nationals because you get to see a lot of things you might not ever see and its a good way to get some different cultural experiences," said Mason Lautenschlager, who is pursuing a degree in animal sciences at NDSU and hopes to one day be a herdsman for a pure breed company or be involved in the sciences of beef cattle breeding and nutrition.