Lincoln FFA completes three-year antique tractor restoration project

 

[May 18, 2024]  The Lincoln Community High School FFA chapter had the opportunity to help restore a 1927 McCormick-Deering 10-20 tractor, donated by Dave Bishop of Atlanta.

The 2021-2023 Lincoln Ag Engineering students started the two-year-long process of restoring the tractor. This current 2023-2024 school year the students in agriculture classes all pitched in to help finish the restoration of this tractor.

A common student seen with the tractor is LCHS freshman Oliver White. He had some great things to say about his experience with the tractor and how it benefited him and his classmates. “When I would work on it, it helped me decompress from all the other things I was thinking about, and I was able to just have one thought which was the tractor and what I was doing and needed to do. My favorite moments were when the whole class was working on the tractor because I feel that it gave all the other students a new experience to work with something that was like treasure.”

The tractor restoration was the work of many students, but Oliver was one that put in so much time during class and after school.

After the long three years of hard work and teamwork, the tractor was finally completed towards the end of the 2023-2024 school under the direction of LCHS Agriculture Educator and FFA Sponsor Molly Schempp.

The tractor is to be sent off to Heartland Community College in Bloomington-Normal to be displayed on the campus. The completion of such an amazing project would not have been possible without Jay Akers, Jon Graber, and Darin Schempp. The Lincoln FFA chapter thanks them for helping with the restoration throughout the year.

Be sure to visit Heartland Community College’s Agriculture Department to see the tractor this summer.

[Submitted by: Morgan Sheley, Lincoln FFA Reporter]