THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510170064
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
IN A PLACE OF honor, in the center of the living room of a Carrsville home, sits an intricately carved wooden piece highlighted by a collapsible basket.
It's not just any collapsible basket. It's the basket that won the Grand Champion blue ribbon of the agricultural mechanics division at the Virginia State Fair in Richmond this year.
Near the basket sits a clock, and near the clock, a mirror. Both of those items started out as baskets but changed forms in mid-construction.
That's because the collapsible basket, a time-honored pattern in woodcrafting, is so tedious to do, said Gary Kirts, agricultural science and mechanics teacher at Windsor High School.
It took senior and fifth-year ag-science student David Moore three tries before he finished the award-winning piece. When he saw that the basket pattern wasn't working, he didn't want to waste the wood, so he made the clock and mirror.
Even if it did take awhile to produce the winner, the teacher couldn't be prouder.
``Windsor High always does well at the State Fair, but this is our first grand champion,'' Kirts said. ``The collapsible basket is very hard to do, and David's is a beautiful piece.''
The collapsible basket is a piece even Colonial woodcrafters wouldn't tackle very often, Kirts said. When they did, it was as much of a showpiece, a cherished possession, as Moore's is today.
The basket, which folds up, indicative of its name, is cut from a solid, flat piece of wood. Moore used red oak for his basket, which sits in a kind of holder with hearts and doves carved into a large handle that frames the piece.
``It's fun to do, a lot of creative work,'' Moore said. ``You get payment in the end, when you look at what you've done.''
Moore wasn't the only one of Kirts' students who wanted to master the collapsible basket. Will Jones, also a senior, took second place in the category, just behind Moore. The only difference was Jones' basket was round; Moore's was oval.
``When I graded the projects, I put Will's over David's,'' Kirts said. ``The circle is really harder to do.''
But the round basket had a couple of imperfections, the teacher said. Judges picked up on that and gave the blue ribbon to Moore's perfect entry.
The Windsor students, representing the Walter S. Newman FFA Chapter, one of the oldest in the state, went to the State Fair at the end of September to compete against more than 250 Future Farmers of America and 4-H chapters across the state.
Tom Billups, a 10th-grader in his third year of ag-science, took the top award with his cotton entry. He also took second place with soybeans from his family's farm and fifth place with shelled corn. Billups' peanuts didn't fare quite as well, coming in sixth place statewide. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Fair winners are, from left on front row: Mike Glover, David Moore,
Kent Adams; middle row: Brian Vaughan, Tom Billups, Clifford Carr,
Will Jones; back row: Nicholas Mitchell and Jason Stone.
THE WINNERS
Winners in the agricultural mechanics competition at the Virginia
State Fair in Richmond:
David Moore - Grand champion blue ribbon, first place ribbon for
collapsible basket; second place in class for hummingbird lamp;
second place in class for mantle clock.
Will Jones - Second place in class for collapsible basket.
Kent Adams - Second place in class for wood lamp; second place in
class for wall shelf.
Brian Vaughan - Second place in class for wall shelf.
Jason Stone - Second place in class for layered dog.
Nicholas Mitchell - Second place in class for wall shelf.
Wesley Stingel - Second place in class for golf clock.
Tom Billups - Second place in class for wall shelf.
Junior farm crops:
Tom Billups - First place cotton on the stalk; second place
soybeans on the stalk; fifth place shelled corn.
Mike Glover - Fourth place soybeans on the stalk; sixth place
cotton on the stalk.
Clifford Carr - Fourth place cotton on the stalk; sixth place for
one gallon of wheat.
by CNB