FFA MEMBERS GROW SKILLS THROUGH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT EVENTS
By Loghan Amborn, Greenwood FFA advisor The Greenwood FFA hosted district Leadership Development Events (LDEs) at our school on Monday, Jan. 22. Ten area schools were invited to enter contestants into seven different speaking competitions during the events. With the help of the Greenwood FFA Alumni, the Athletic Booster Club, 21 community members serving as judges, and numerous FFA members and adult helpers, we were able to host a fantastic evening!
The FFA chapters of Abbotsford, Colby, Granton, Loyal, Neillsville, Owen-Withee and Thorp joined us at Greenwood to compete for a chance to advance to the Sectional contests. The events included: - Creed Speaking, in which eighth or ninth grade members recite the FFA Creed and answer questions regarding its impact.
- Prepared Speaking, in which students deliver a six- to eight-minute speech about an agriculture-related topic which they have prepared in advance.
- Extemporaneous Speaking, where members draw an agricultural topic at random and have 30 minutes to prepare a speech using limited resources. Then they present and answer questions related to their topic.
- Discussion Meet, which allows members to display their collaborative and problem-solving skills in a group setting.
- Employment Skills simulates a job interview experience by having members _ill out a job application, submit a resume and cover letter, and interview with a panel of judges.
- Parliamentary Procedure is a team contest evaluating students on their ability to run an ef_icient meeting using Robertâs Rules of Order.
- Quiz Bowl, an FFA trivia contest where middle school teams battle headto- head on their FFA knowledge.
The wide variety of contests available for FFA members allows each student to showcase their skills and talents, and appeals to a wide range of interests. Eighty-_ive FFA members competed at the Greenwood LDE contests, with the _irst and second place in each competition advancing to the sectional contest on March 11.
Greenwood FFAâs Quiz Bowl team members were Riley Bieneck, Max Dyre, Ross Lindner, Brady Rakovec and Lucas Ruzic.
Madison Stieglitz, Greenwood FFAâs treasurer, competed in the Extemporaneous Speaking contest for the _irst time and earned fourth place!
The Greenwood FFA would like to thank all of the parents, community members, teachers, judges and alumni members who helped make this event possible.
