March 19, 2024

Iowa FFA announces 2016 Stars Over Iowa finalists

AMES — The 2016 Stars Over Iowa finalists were selected for recognition as part of the 88th Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, April 17-19.

Twenty-two finalists were selected in four different areas: Agricultural placement, agriscience, agribusiness and agricultural production.

The finalists were selected from a pool of 693 FFA members who will earn the Iowa FFA Degree — the highest honor the Iowa FFA Association can bestow upon an FFA member.

Osceola was honored to have two members recognized as Star Finalist, Jacob Manternach and Kaitlyn Boyer. The star awards recognize students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their career development programs and demonstrated outstanding management skills.

These finalists were interviewed and an overall winner in each area was announced on stage during the fourth general session of Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference Tuesday, April 19.

Stars Over Iowa finalists received a plaque and a cash award. The Stars Over Iowa program is possible with support from Iowa Farmer Today through the Iowa FFA Foundation.

About Manternach

Manternach is employed by the local Fareway store where he assist in providing exceptional customer service and a quality product. He currently has worked in excess of 2,000 hours at Fareway.

His responsibilities have included ordering store product, unloading and stocking product during truck at 5 a.m., monitoring cooler and meat case temperatures, inspecting meat product for quality, cutting and assembling value added meat items, and assisting and meeting customer needs in both grocery and meat departments.

The skills he has learned has given him insight into the importance of product packaging, logistics and food safety from both the customer and retail marketing perspectives. These experiences have helped prepare him to effectively contribute to the food industry.

Manternach is currently serving as chapter president and has traveled to Haiti twice as part of an FFA sponsored service learning project.

After graduation, he plans on attending Iowa State University and majoring in food science and obtaining a masters degree in business administration. He is the son of Jan and Kent Manternach.