For months our school’s FFA team have been preparing for this moment: advancing to the state championship. The Junior Quiz team placed ninth out of 625 teams and Senior Chapter has been placed in the top 24 out of 224 teams.

“These teams have been working since September to get to where they are today.” agriculture teacher and FFA director, Jennifer Higgins, said. We have a variety of morning, afternoon, and weekend practices in order to prepare for the contest. It is a very rigorous contest and very cutthroat.”

The team has been practicing for about four months on Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Sunday’s. Normally they last at least two hours. On Sunday’s, it’s a five-hour practice.

“A lot of people think that it’s just showing, but there’s a lot more to it,” freshman Haylee Alphin said. “There’s a lot to do with agriculture. It’s like a community type thing. It’s almost like you’re on a big team. It’s like a huge family.”

There are junior teams and there are senior teams. The junior teams are only comprised of freshmen, while the Senior teams are sophomores and up. Mr. Weston trains the Senior Chapter Conducting team and has been teaching for 16 years. Miss Slough is on her 11th year and she trains the Junior Quiz team. For the Senior Chapter conducting team, they essentially are conducting a business meeting.

“They have to have a vast knowledge of parliamentary procedure (which comes out of a book), as well as memorizing opening and closing ceremonies, and questions that they have to give the answers verbatim,” Kiggins said. “They go into the contest, look at their problems (motions that have to be made) and then begin with opening ceremonies. They go 

through the process of either passing or failing the motions just like they would in a business/parliamentary meeting.”

The junior quiz team has to memorize the answers to a randomized 100 question quiz, competing against other kids from surrounding FFA teams.

“For the Junior quiz team,” Kiggins said. “This would be the same as our senior team which placed 4th at area; they have an FFA manual (which has all the history, rules, and current facts), agricultural facts, and parliamentary knowledge that they have to memorize…”

You start off in Area, which means you are against the surrounding towns. One has to score first or second place to be able to go to district. Once one is in district, teams compete about 30 teams, once again getting first or second to go to state.