Angels Camp, CA — A Bret Harte student wins one of five top honors at the 98th Annual California FFA State Leadership Conference.
The conference, recently held in Ontario, near Los Angeles, awarded recipients of the State Star Awards, which reward extraordinary FFA members who have shown remarkable accomplishment in their supervised agricultural experiences (SAE). Beyond regular class time, the program allows students to use the professional and life skills learned in agriculture education courses on an individual basis. They were chosen from six regions: the Superior, North Coast, Central, San Joaquin, South Coast, and Southern after an extensive application process, finalists demonstrating outstanding management abilities in production, agribusiness, agricultural placement, and agriscience.
State FFA officials provided these details about the Bret Harte student who took home the Star in Agricultural Placement and also won another title last year:
Star in Agricultural Placement:
The Star in Agricultural Placement Award celebrates a student who has excelled in an employment-based SAE, including work-based learning opportunities. The awardee should gain real-world experience throughout his or her SAE, all while contributing to the greater agricultural workforce. The 2026 recipient of the Star in Agricultural Placement Award is Peyton Heermance of Bret Harte FFA. For the past four years, Heermance has worked for the Angel’s Camp Veterinary Hospital, where he is responsible for many tasks, including rooming patients, taking vitals, assisting with surgical procedures, and running in-house animal lab samples. Heermance also won the 2025 National FFA Proficiency title in the area of veterinary science—entrepreneurship/placement.
The other Star award categories include Star Farmer, Star Small Farmer, Star in Agribusiness, and Star in Agriscience. State FFA officials noted, “These FFA members represent the best of the best, exhibiting excellence in all aspects of their agricultural endeavors, demonstrating strong leadership skills, and participating in their local FFA chapter.”
