Gloucester High School FFA member Cayla Mutschler, a 2015 GHS graduate, was appointed as a Virginia FFA vice president during the 89th annual Virginia FFA Convention held on June 22-25 at Virginia Tech.

Mutschler is the first GHS FFA chapter member to hold a state office since 1983-84 when Richard West was appointed as a vice president. Mutschler previously served as vice president of the GHS chapter.

It was just by circumstance that Mutschler got involved with the agriculture program at GHS, and subsequently FFA. “My freshman year, I wanted to be a registered nurse,” she recalled, but it was too late to get into the health sciences academy at the school. “So, they put me in plant science.”

It was the first year at GHS for agriculture science teacher Katie Staples, a recent graduate of Virginia Tech. Staples found she had several students who were 4-H members and interested in animal science, so she worked to get animal science added to the GHS horticulture c...