Curtis wins Regional Star in agribusiness

Curtis wins Regional Star in agribusiness

Vance Curtis, a senior at Worland High School and a member of the Chief Washakie FFA chapter has been selected as the Wyoming FFA Regional Star in agribusiness and is in the running for the Wyoming FFA State Star in agribusiness.

Curtis runs Curtis Customs, a T-shirt making business. He started the project when he was in the ninth grade and was looking for some type of SAE (supervised agriculture experience), which is required of all FFA members, advisor Grace Godfrey said.

Curtis asked Godfrey, his FFA advisor, for some ideas. The two discussed some options and came up with the T-shirt idea. Each year the FFA chapter gets new chapter T-shirts with a different design. Curtis asked if rather than paying someone else to do that, if he could make them and the chapter pay him instead. Bruce Miller, the WHS activities director at the time, allowed Curtis to borrow the T-shirt press from the school in return for Curtis helping him make some T-shirts.

Curtis contacted National FFA to get permission to use the FFA logo and emblem and he was off and running, Godfrey said.

The first year he made T-shirts that had the FFA emblem and Ride for the Brand on them, because that was the theme for that year’s Wyoming State FFA Convention. He also contacted Stacy Broda, Wyoming FFA State advisor, and Jennifer Womack, Wyoming FFA Foundation director, about selling T-shirts at the Wyoming FFA State Convention.

The first year Curtis sold T-shirts at convention he lost money. FFA members were not aware that you could purchase items at the career fair so many did not bring money. Curtis was disappointed in sales or lack thereof, but Miller was kind enough to buy back any T-shirts that Curtis had not lettered for the school to help minimize his losses. On the plus side however, Curtis was contacted by the Wyoming FFA Foundation about making T-shirts for them the following year.

The second year Curtis again made T-shirts for the Chief Washakie FFA. He had enough logos left over from the previous year that he cut off the wording and picked a new T-shirt color and was able to save some money by not having to buy new screens. He also made shirts to sell sporting the convention logo as well as shirts for the Wyoming FFA Foundation to give away at the career show. In addition, Curtis started making T-shirts for the Battle of the Big Horns wrestling tournament. Curtis made T-shirts for a second year for the Wyoming FFA Foundation and then this fall he made over 130 T-shirts for Wyoming FFA CPC (Chapter Presidents Conference) in Green River.

In addition to his business Curtis Customs, Curtis also has several SAE projects that keep him busy. He is the 2015 state champion agriscience plant proficiency winner and is in the top three in three areas for the 2017 State FFA Convention. He has been on the ag mechanics and ENR teams in previous years. He is the son of Kevin Curtis and Ilka Lyman-Seghetti and will leave for basic training for the Air Force at the end of the summer after he graduates.