FFA members head to Louisville to compete in Nationals

On October 30, five students from North Harford, as well as over 58,000 students from across the country, involved with the Future Farmers of America, or FFA, attended the Nationals competition in Louisville, Kentucky. The students from NH included Jordan Borkowski, Katie Soltysiak, Taylor Stower, Lauren Makowieki, and Hailey Cornell.
“It reminded me that I am part of something bigger than myself,” said Borkowski.
At the competition, students competed in Career Development Events, or CDE’s. The event categories ranged from Horse Evaluation to Prepared Public Speaking. Competitors were evaluated on their ability to accomplish the task given to them based on the specific CDE.
“I had to select three topics and had 30 minutes to write a 4-6 minute speech on them,” said Soltysiak.
Soltysiak earned Bronze for her effort in the Extemporaneous Public Speaking CDE. As well as competing, she enjoyed the spirit and atmosphere of the competition. The girls were selected after coming in first for states in their respective CDE.
“It was a great experience,” said Soltysiak. “We got to participate in team building activities with other FFA members and made connections that will last a long time.
As well as acting as a chance for FFA members to compete against each other, the Nationals competition serves as an annual convention. A General Session was held to honor the retiring and newly elected National FFA officers.
“For this new national officer team, it will be a year of hard work, long hours, lots of travel and major advocacy for FFA and agricultural education,” said retiring National FFA President Clay Sapp.
Students from all areas of the United States attended the competition, from Alaska to Hawaii to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the different speakers was Joe Torrillo, a firefighter from New York City that survived the terrorist attacks of September 11.
“We learned how to come together as a unit in order to complete what we had to do,” said Borkowski.