At North Kitsap High School, few students can say they earned medals for competing in FFA competitions, and even fewer can say they own a 20-pound prize rabbit.

During the FFA competition held on the weekend of Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, junior Anna Smallbeck, took home two medals. She earned the title of Reserve Grand Champion for Fitting and Showing and her Flemish Giant rabbit, Nina, was named Flemish Giant Rabbit Reserve Grand Champion.

Smallbeck is the only FFA member at North who shows rabbits, which puts an added pressure on her when it comes time to compete. Students who show more popular animals, such as pigs, benefit from the ability to share experiences with each other.

“I’m trying to bring back rabbit showing,” Smallbeck said. “We are trying to prove our worth at these competitions.”

Less people have become involved with programs such as FFA and Smallbeck’s mother, technology education teacher and yearbook advisor at North, Tina Smallbeck, said there is a noticeable difference between people involved in FFA today and back 10 or 20 years ago.

“If you look back at old yearbooks the difference in the amount of FFA members is incredible,” she said. “It’s not only that, there have been less and less people at the fairs in recent years too.”

Last year, there were four FFA members total at North, this year there were four who made it to state competition, Smallbeck said.

“At least it looks like it might be picking back up a little,” she said.

Raising animals for competition is not cheap and because of the recent dip in the economy, families may be forced to cut back on how much they can spend on animals, said North FFA advisor Jon Houk.

This year, a few of the FFA members who went to compete in the Puyallup Fair could not advance to state because their pigs did not meet the weight requirements, he said.

Besides the cost of the animal, feeding it and maintaining it can become expensive and raising animals like pigs can cost over $350 for each one.

In terms of cost, rabbits are no exception, but for Smallbeck rabbits will continue to be part of the family. They now have a barn specifically for the six rabbits they own, Tina Smallbeck said.

Currently, Nina the rabbit is the only one of their rabbits they show, which Anna Smallbeck said was a challenge to show at first. Into her third year in FFA, she has found Nina to actually be easier to handle than her first six-pound rabbit.

“I didn’t expect (Nina) to grow to that size,” Smallbeck said. “I have actually noticed my bicep growing from holding her so much.”

As she enters into her third year in FFA, Smallbeck said raising an animal for competitions is more difficult than people think. Besides the technical aspects of showing an animal—proper color, health and genetic mutations are a few major things to keep track of—the knowledge section of each competition is something that surprises new contestants, she said.

Questions asked by the judges at the competition can range from more simple questions, such as the history of the breed, to medical questions about a specific breed. For her last competition, Smallbeck said things went smoothly for both sections of the event, but this was not always the case.

She began showing rabbits at the age of 10 in 4-H, Smallbeck owned a six-pound rabbit that was difficult to handle. When she competed, the rabbit was less than cooperative and the other competing members had more experience.

“That first competition was horrible,” Smallbeck said. “I was sitting in between two people—I swear one had a photo-graphic memory—who both had competed before, with my rabbit who liked to bite judges.”

Smallbeck admitted she began showing rabbits because that was the only way her parents would allow her to own one, she said. Since then; however, she has come to enjoy handling animals but would like to see more people become involved, she said.