Ava Lane & Joaquin Schlessiger
This is Ava Lane's 6th year and Joaquin's 4th year to be involved in showing livestock at county stock shows across south Texas. It's fair to say they're serious about it. Ava and Joaquin see to the needs of their pigs, lambs, sheep and/or goats every day of the year by feeding, grooming and exercising them, tending to them when the animals are sick and making sure they have clean living conditions ... and that means cleaning pens. Showing livestock means early mornings and late nights, long days and short nights, the smell of manure and hay and long road trips ... but I'm sure they will tell you it's so worth it. We're very proud of them and are so glad we have this opportunity to cheer them on. The following are some of their awards just this year. In the Uvalde County Jr. Livestock Show:

Ava Lane
• Champion Lightweight Doe with Dotty
• Reserve Champion Lightweight Whether with Twister
• Kevin was in Class 2
• Skittles was in Class 3
• 3rd in judging sheep and goats
• Received a $500.00 scholarship to Uvalde Jr. College

Joaquin
• Champion Lightweight Doe with JD
• Reserve Champion Lightweight Whether
• Reserve Champion Middleweight Doe with Lola
• Richard was in Class 2

Their upcoming livestock shows are: Houston - March 7th, Austin - March 13th and Mercedes - March 14th. You can watch them in action as they show their livestock at waltonwebcasting.com.

Ava and Joaquin are also busy participating in UIL (University Interscholastic League) competitions around the area. A lot of studying goes on in their home. Their placements are:

Ava Lane
• Placed 1st in Listening Skills at UIL for Uvalde Jr. High Competed against Medina Valley, Boerne and Alamo Heights

Joaquin
• 1st Place in Maps, Graphs & Charts
• 1st Place in Maps, Graphs & Charts Team
• 1st Place in Social Studies Team
• 5th Place Social Studies
• 2nd Place Music Memory Team

Congratulations on all of your awards and recognitions. We're so very proud of you both.