KINGSVILLE (March 26, 2025) — The Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK) hosted more than 120 high school students from 26 South Texas schools during the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Area X Applied Agriculture Engineering Contest Tuesday afternoon at the Agriculture Mechanics lab on campus.
The competition consisted of four-person teams competing in welding, oxygen acetylene cutting, blueprint layout and a 100-point test that covered subjects such as welding theory to material costs. Teams finishing in the top three move on to the state competition.
“This contest represents our Area X FFA,” Professor of Agricultural Education and Mechanics Dr. Steven Chumbley said. “This is testing their skills in metal fabrication and agriculture engineering principles.”
While the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources hosts and plans the event, it is the TAMUK students who lead and coordinate it as they judge and rotate groups through competition stations every 20 minutes.
“It’s just like many of the other events we host, our students get to apply their technical skills and work with these high school kids,” Chumbley said. “Without them, we couldn’t do these events. This all tied directly to their Ag Mechanics class. They help us set up and coordinate the events. It’s service learning what we’re doing.”
Below are the Area X Applied Ag Engineering contest results.
Results (Top 3 teams advance to state competition)
School Score
Beeville 729
Pettus 718
PSJA High 702
Riviera Kaufer 699
Pleasanton 692
Goliad 646
Skidmore-Tynan 644
Sinton 600
Eagle Pass 595
Mathis 593
Banquete 588
Mission 585
Mission Vets 562
Zapata 557
Nordheim 551
Robstown 532
La Feria 500
Agua Dulce 491
Benavides 209
H.M. King 197
Dilley 150
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