By Marin Murray.
After placing first and second at the FFA Big Country Leadership Development Event (LDE) Contest on Nov. 13, the senior quiz team and greenhand radio team competed in the Area IV Contest on Nov. 20.
“I think LDEs are important because all of us, at one point or another, are gonna have to stand up in front of somebody and speak,” Future Farmers of America (FFA) advisor Sucinda Easley said. “There’s always going to be those times where you’ve got to get a little bit uncomfortable in order to grow, and I think those contests are really, really good at helping you do that.”
There are many types of LDEs that include both team competitions, like the quiz and radio contests, and individual competitions, like job interview and creed speaking contests, all of which require many hours of preparation in order to be successful.
“I prepared by doing lots of FaceTime calls with Mallon and London,” sophomore Jocelyn Smith said. “We also practiced our script in class and in the shop.”
Smith competed alongside freshmen Mallon Murray and London Woodard in the greenhand competition, which is meant for underclassmen FFA members. The radio contest involves creating a script and then reading it into a microphone for judges to listen to and score.
“It was exciting,” Smith said. “We were Mrs. Easley’s first greenhand radio team to advance. It made me feel joyful because it was a big accomplishment.”
Both teams that advanced to the area competition placed seventh. Although no other students advanced to this level of competition, Easley had nine other students place at the district level.
“I guess I’ve had at least one individual or team advance to area every year except for last year,” Easley said. “This year was the first time I’d had a quiz and greenhand radio team advance.”
Junior Griffin Stimmler competed on the senior quiz team with senior Austin Hendrickson and sophomores Skye Marsh and Koda Clever. In preparation for the competition, the team members had to learn a large amount of information about FFA and farming.
“Studying was probably the hardest part,” Stimmler said. “Studying is boring and it takes hours of looking at boring farm bills, farm facts and FFA knowledge.”
Even though some parts of the preparation process may have been boring, the many hours put into practicing these two events paid off in the long run.
“I’ve never advanced in a contest for FFA before so it was a pretty big deal,” Stimmler said. “Through this I’ve learned that you have to work really hard for what you want, even if it is pretty boring.”
FFA students can only compete in the LDE contests during the fall semester, because they will compete in career development events (CDEs) throughout the spring semester. Despite the short amount of time spent focusing on LDEs, they still have a large impact on student’s lives.
“I think there is a contest for everyone in the LDEs if you’re in FFA,” Easley said. “The things you’re going to learn when you’re preparing for those; they’re just things you’re going to need to know in life, in order to get a job, be able to speak to someone and to do that more professionally.”
