Southeastern FFA members compete in CDEs

Ten members of the Southeastern FFA have spent the past month memorizing and organizing speeches and developed resumes and cover letters in preparation for two competitions in public speaking and job interview.

Danielle Augustus, Haley Conway and Jillian Edwards competed in the junior division of job interview at the county level, with Haley placing second, Jillian placing sixth and Danielle placing eighth. Haley went on to the sub-district level, placing sixth in the junior division. Cory Knox, Brandon Zerkle and Kyle James competed in the sophomore division of job interview where Cory placed ninth, Kyle placed tenth and Brandon placed eleventh in the largest division of the contest. Cory went on to place third at sub-district and will advance to the district level. Finally, in the freshman division, Miranda B. placed seond, Stephanie Whetstone placed eleventh and Shawn Carpenter placed twelfth. Miranda competed at the sub-district level, placing second and will also advance to the district level. For job interview, students must choose from a list of “job openings” from the FFA competition rules and compose a cover letter and resume, which are scored prior to the competition. At the event, students complete a blank job application, field questions in an interview setting with a judge and write a follow-up letter to conclude the interview experience.

In advanced prepared speaking, Haley Conway competed in an event where students must research and compose a speech on a topic of interest, memorize the composition and present it to a panel of judges who pose questions to the presenter on the topic. The speech is between six and eight minutes in length. In the county event, Haley placed second and advanced to the sub-district competition where she placed fourth.

In extemporaneous speaking, students draw one of twelve topics at the competition before using a 30-minute preparation session to compose a speech between four and six minutes in length. Speeches are unprepared in advance of the competition and students must utilize the preparation time to carefully and quickly research topics they have drawn and compile notes and information to be used during the presentation in front of a panel of judges. Judges pose questions to the presenter on the topic after the conclusion of the speech. Jillian Edwards placed third at the county competition and then went on to place fifth at the sub-district competition. Also competing in this event were Brandon Zerkle, who placed fourth and Kyle James, who placed fifth.

For the FFA Creed speaking event, students must memorize and present the FFA Creed before a panel of judges and then respond to questions about the creed, often focused on the student’s interpretation and ability to relate to the FFA Creed. Jillian Channell placed second at the county event and then placed fourth at the sub-district event.

In all, these students have worked very hard and have done an outstanding job in their respective competitions!