YODER – Sweaty hands and racing hearts gathered at Southeast High School for the Southeast FFA Chapter Leadership Night on Tuesday evening. 

What some consider a rite of passage for freshman FFA members, the contest includes the reciting of the National FFA Creed. The creed was written by E.M. Tiffany in 1928 and adopted as the National FFA Organization’s ideology in 1930. 

The contest also conducts extemporaneous speaking, prepared speaking and the National FFA “Interview Contest” for the more seasoned members of the chapter.

Public speaking is commonly known as the world’s number one phobia.

“You really won’t see the value of it until you are about 22 or 23,” Jay Clapper, Southeast FFA Advisor and agriculture teacher explained to the group of parents waiting in the lunchroom to hear the winners of the speaking contests this year. “I can remember a neighboring town, that was very much into athletics, they had won numerous state championships, and a young man called me who was now a parent to three or four kids. He fought unbelievably hard to get ag ed and FFA at his school. He was passionate about it. When people asked why, he said when he went to college, he was surrounded by these FFA kids, and they all had an edge on him. He went on to say that he had everything, but those FFA kids had an edge over me.”

Some people would even prefer to face a rattlesnake if  it meant they didn’t have to speak to a crowd, according to Clapper. 

“Some of you are going to go home today and say I failed tonight, or I made mistakes. That’s what it’s about and right now it doesn’t mean much to you guys,” Clapper addressed the FFA members. “But I look around this room and I see a lot of older parents and people in the room, nodding their head saying, ‘yeah, he’s right.’ You don’t see it (advantages in FFA) for a while and that’s why it’s just so important to me that you take a risk.” 

Being an FFA member is something to be proud of, regardless of what the outside world says, according to Clapper. 

“In my school, FFA was a joke. When I was a freshman, I didn’t want anything to do with it,” Clapper said. “I wanted ag but I had a situation that got me involved in FFA. In my school, I got bullied for being in FFA.” 

Creed speaking for the evening consisted of 14 contestants. The first round of speeches was delivered to judges Michelle Toedter, Penny Hutchinson, Barb Becker, and Cody Alps in the high school English rooms. The first and second place from each round of members advanced to the next round, held in the high school cafeteria. Members recited the creed and answered three questions from the judges before being scored in the event.
During the first round of creed speakers, just down the hall, prepared speaker Kailey Porter spoke to the crowd of supporters on suicide rates in farmers. 

“Imagine living in a rural area and you are a man in your 60s with a farm that is your sole source of income,” Porter said to the audience. “Now, you’re in a dry spell and producing half of what you normally would. Meaning that you only have half of the income. Being a farmer is extremely stressful and many farmers commit suicide instead of talking to a therapist about their problems.”
After a brief question and answer period from the judges David Becker and Matt Heilburn, the next prepared speaker, William Knowlton, gave a presentationon hydrogen engines and their applications in agriculture.

“Did you find any research on cost, you’re talking a hydrogen engine the size of a chainsaw to powering a tractor, was there any cost of these motors you found in your research,” Becker asked Knowlton. 

“They are extremely new to the development stage,” Knowlton explained. “I would assume the price would be high if they make anywhere near the power they are expected to.”

After a few more questions, Kodie Anderson began her extemporaneous speech. 

During this contest, the member has 30 minutes to prepare a four to six minutes speech on topic drawn for them at the start of the contest. After the speech, each speaker is given three minutes for questions from not only the judges but the audience. 

“The topic I got today was what steps should the government take to increase the awareness of agriculture issues in our country,” Anderson began.

The next speaker, Tayler Hansen, spoke on food and fiber systems.

“Food and fiber systems are important to the United States, and it is important that we protect them,” Hansen said. 

The interview contest, judged by Lonny Luke and Steve Schmick, was held during the speaking events and is a non-audience contest which focuses primarily on employment skills and leadership development.

Once the extemporaneous speaking portion of the contest wrapped up, Clapper then took the podium to announce the winners of each contest.

The four freshman finalists in the creed speaking, Brecken Ricker, KayDee Gladson, Ben Gibbons and Bailey Mehling, prepared to deliver the creed one final time to the audience to narrow the round down to two remaining members. 

“In our prepared speaking, in second place, Kailey Porter,” Clapper announced. “First place is Mr. William Knowlton.”

The top two speakers in every event will get to go on to districts and receive a cash prize called “face your fear award,” according to Clapper.

“In our interview contest, in third place, Mr. Thomas Hill. Second place is Miss Keana Llewellyn, and first place is Miss Brea Mills,” Clapped said. “That’s another contest where the top two will get to go on.” 

After another round of Clapper entertainment, the creed speakers moving on the district speaking contest were announced. 

“I want to thank everybody for coming. I want to thank all of our judges,” Clapper told the group. “In fourth place, Mr. Ben Gibbons. In third place, Brecken Ricker and I am respecting the judge’s decision. They could not make up their mind and so we have two co-winners, a tie between Bailey Mehling and Miss KayDee Gladson.”

Winners Anderson, Hansen, Knowlton, Porter, Mills, Llewellyn, Mehling and Gladson will advance to the district FFA public speaking event to be held at a later date.