It’s that time of year: the blue and gold teams are gearing up for another series of competitions. FFA offers an opportunity for its members to participate in different competitions regarding different aspects of agriculture. There are two different types of competitions, with different events within each type. 

     CDE stands for Career Development Event. These events focus on developing skills for different careers within agriculture. Meanwhile, LDE stands for Leadership Development Event. These events focus on developing public speaking skills. “Students grow skills in areas that they are interested in, get to form friendships with other team members, [and] get to meet people from around the state at competitions,” says Mrs. Hannah Jarrell, agriculture and horticulture teacher. “[Students] have the opportunity to complete sponsored travel around the country.”

     “So far, CDE teams practicing include Vet Science, Food Science, Floriculture, Nursery and Landscape, Meat Evaluation, Farm Business Management, Milk Quality Products, and Ag Mechanics,” says Jarrell. 

     The Meat Evaluation team is made up of junior Nevada Abels, sophomore Grayson Whaley, freshman Sophie Read, and sophomore Nina Fields. The Milk Quality team is freshman Madison Thomas, senior Cole Hellwig, and freshman Emily Troyer.  Currently this team still has one spot open. 

     The Farm Business team consists of sophomores William Rowan, Samuel Kleback, Lucy Heisey, and senior James Ortt. The Ag Mechanics team is made up of sophomore Douglas Anderson, junior Christian Cockerham, sophomore Ryley Schildtknecht, and sophomore Devin Deinlein.  “LDE participants are practicing Extemporaneous, Prepared, and Creed Speaking.” says Jarrell. 

     The Creed speaking team consists of freshmen Sophie Read  and Aunaleigha Walker. The Extemporaneous Speaking team is made up of junior Clayon McGraw, senior  Kalyna Lloyd, senior Cole Hellwig, junior Ryan Layman, senior Calvin Rose,  and sophomore Grayson Whaley.  Prepared Speaking includes sophomores Samantha Hawk, Keegan Huss, Sophia Reinart, and Katherine Vanarsdale, as well as juniors Waverly Iriarte and Allyson Knott.

      LDE and the Ag mechanics teams are the first to compete. These teams “participate in a regional event March 16 in Westminster. If they place in the top four at regionals they will continue to the State Convention in June at Wisp in Garrett County.” says Jarrell. All of the other teams will “compete at State Spring Judging in April.”

     The last level of the competition is Nationals, “If teams place first in the state they will continue on to the National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana  in October.” says Jarrell. 

     A lot of work goes into preparing each team for their competitions. “Students are essentially taking on another class worth of work as they participate in weekly practices and cover extensive at-home practices/homework,” says Jarrell. 

     When the teams arrive at the competition, they will be tested in “Practicums based on skills, written test, and team activity,” says Jarrell. The best thing that can be done in order to do well in the competition is too, “Practice, practice, practice! You got this!” says Jarrell.