On November 15, 2023, the Alliance FFA Chapter went to Chadron, Nebraska to compete in the LDE competition. LDE stands for Leadership Development Conference and is created to help FFA members grow in their public speaking skills and leadership. Our chapter performed in 9 different events, those being: Parliamentary Procedure, Conduct of Chapters Meeting, Ag Demo, Creed Speaking, Employment Skills, Extemporaneous, Junior Public Speaking, and Senior Public Speaking. We had 19 kids perform in these events, ranging from freshmen to senior.
I interviewed a student for Minature High School, Saydee Peterson, to ask about her contest and how she thinks her team did. My first question was about what event she participated in, Saydee’s event was an Agricultural Demonstration. Ag Demo is where you prepare a demonstration to show to 3 judges and you can choose your topic! I asked Saydee what her demo was about and she responded, “It was about egg grading and how to do it.” Saydee and her team, which consisted of herself, Bayleigh Lacy, and Yvonne Kreiling, placed 5th in their demonstration!
My next interview was with Gavin Mann, who is a freshman here at AHS. The event Gavin was in was the Conduct of Chapter Meeting (CCM). He was the treasurer at this event and explained what they did to me, “We do Parlimetry Producer where you host a meeting and then take a test after.” I asked Gavin if he thought they did well, and he stated, “It’s hard to say. I had a couple of mistakes for sure but maybe we won!” The Alliance FFA Chapter’s CCM team ended up placing 5th, getting a blue ribbon.
The next person that I interviewed was the Alliance FFA Chapter’s secretary, Kaylee Henthorn. Her event was Employment Skills. When I asked what she did in this event, she responded, “In this event you write up a cover letter, resume, and reference page and submit an application before the actual contest day and then the day of the contest you go through an actual interview with two judges and then a final interview with six judges.” Another question that I asked was how she prepared for her event, Kaylee said, “The best thing to do for this event is to do as many mock interviews as possible just for the experience so you are comfortable the day of. I also practiced a ton of interview questions.” This was Kaylee’s first year doing this competition and she ended up getting district champion, and she qualified for state!
My final interview was with Miss Pohl, who is one of the Alliance FFA chapter’s advisors. I asked Pohl what events she helped with and she said, “I helped prep the Conduct of Chapter Meetings (CCM) Team, Creed Speaking, and various other speeches such as Senior/Junior Public and Extemp.” The other question I asked was how she helped them prepare for the district contest. Ms. Pohl responded with, “CCM learned about parli pro during Intro to Ag and then came in each week to prepare by debating on practice motions. Creed speaking, students started learning one paragraph in class, and then our creed speaker learned the rest and came in multiple times a week to practice reciting it, adding in gestures, and answering practice questions.” Miss Pohl is very proud of how the chapter did and can’t wait to see more improvement.
Overall, the Alliance FFA Chapter did amazing as a whole. I can’t wait to see how much our chapter grows as we continue to go to competitions and compete together!
Results shared by Mrs. Vivion:
Exemtempous Speaking:
Seth Meyring – District Champion and State Qualified.
Employment Skills:
Kaylee Henthorn – District Champion and State Qualified.
Macy Brooks – 3rd place, State Qualified.
Creed Speaking:
Autumn Henthorn – District Runner-Up and State Qualified.
Senior Public Speech:
Shyla Salcido – 5th place (Purple)
Junior Public Speech:
Ryggin Meyer – 4th place (Purple)
Rozlyn Wills – White
Ag Demo:
Brooklyn Burri and Makenna Quick – Blue
Conduct of Chapter’s Meeting:
Aubree Splattstoesser, Kaci Messersmith, Ryley Norris, Addison Belford, Jozzlynn Smith, and Gavin Mann – 5th place (Blue)
Parliamentary Procedure: Jackson Bailey, Kail Fickel, Isaac Murphy, Carson Swenson, Rozlyn Wills, and Ryggin Meyer – 4th place (Blue)
