 | | Josh Supak, a 2007 Brazos High School graduate, stands with his tractor, a 1970 Farmall 826. He will compete in the tractor restoration competition.
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| WALLIS - Jordan Raska jokes about her brother making her follow in his footsteps by participating in a particular Future Farmers of America competitive event.
But if her choice of an event sounds unusual, think again.
Raska, a senior at Brazos High School, will participate in the 2007 Chevron Delo Tractor Restoration Competition Finals in Indianapolis this week. She will make a presentation about her 1959 John Deere 730 tractor, a diesel and roadcrop machine. Raska and 2007 BHS grad Josh Supak, now attending Oklahoma State University, will be two of 10 students from around the country making a presentation. Supak, of Simonton, will do a presentation on a 1970 Farmall 826.
Other than Raska, two of the other presenters at the event are girls. Being a female with an interest in mechanics might not sound ordinary, but lots of girls are participating in tractor restoration competitions.
“Really, it's not that unusual,” said Jayson Hill, BHS ag teacher and FFA adviser. “There are some other folks across the state, and Jordan is one of them. There are some folks from Decatur that has an all-girls team. And there is a young lady from Devine that does it as well. So it's not uncommon. It's becoming more and more common.”
“They think it's cool - they like it,” said Raska, when asked what her friends think about her talent. In Indianapolis, she will do a 15-minute presentation, and then she will have question and answer session with judges.
“My brother (Tyler) restored tractors his freshman year, and he's three years older than me, so when I became a freshman he made me restore a tractor,” laughed Raska. Last year, she and Tyler took a tractor to the national competition and made first runner-up.
“It was fun - I liked it,” said Raska, who plans to attend Tarleton State University next year and major in agriculture. “And Tyler won the year before that. He got first in individual.”
Raska said the restoration project requires participants to take a tractor apart, clean it, fix mechanical problems, order parts and paint it. And then they have to put the machine back together so it can, hopefully, sell. Depending on the tractor, it can take four to six months to accomplish all the work, Raska said. Length of time spent with the machine can determine completion time.
“How fast you work and how much you work a day counts, too, and if you can find parts or not,” she said.
“On average, it's going to be about 400 hours,” said Hill, in his first year at the school after being at East Central High School in San Antonio, where he was also an ag teacher.
She said time management is the key in getting work done on her project. She works on it after school, and she said Tyler is available to help if she has mechanical questions. Hill offers reassurance and reminds her to keep a level head.
Raska is excited about participating in the national event but admits some nervousness.
“She knows what she's doing - she just needs to be confident in her knowledge and her abilities,” Hill said. “She knows what's going on.”
She will practice her presentation with Hill before Thursday. Participants can use multi-media to do their presentation.
Raska has learned about tractor mechanics during the process, but she also has learned transferable skills, such as confidence, communication and public speaking.
“Since I'm a girl, a lot of people look at you like, ‘Oh, you don't know what you're talking about.' But I do,” she said.
Tractor restoration provides versatile skills.
“The kids put a lot of hard work into it and they do learn a lot,” Hill said. “Not just about how the diesel engine or a gas engine works, but just a lot about themselves, determination and how to work with other people.”
Hill said the national FFA calendar runs from November to October, so Supak is still considered an FFA member.
“You can actually be an FFA member up to three or four years out of high school, because there are some advanced degrees and awards that you can apply for,” he said. “So that's kind of how he falls into this.”
Supak said he thinks he's more prepared for what to expect this year, as he suffered some nervousness last year, when he failed to place in the top three but settled for a certificate of participation. He said others have encouraged him that he has a chance to do well this year.
This is the fourth year in a row BHS has been to the national competition in tractor restoration, which is an important component of the ag program at the school.
“The community is a big supporter of it,” Hill said.
“I was just amazed at what they do, at what they start with, how it's broken down and the raw material that they start with and how that thing comes up looking at the end,” said BHS Principal Lyle Ebner.
“It's an incredible process, and the kids learn so much from it.”
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