Imperial FFA earns District Honors

Members of the Imperial FFA competed in the second round of District Leadership Event competitions at NCTA in Curtis on January 21.  Imperial teams and individuals brought home district champion honors that qualified them for state competition on March 25-27 in Lincoln.
Imperial’s Parliamentary Procedure team took the champion spot and earned the right to compete at state. Team members are Beau Weiss, Navy Havel, Dominic Harris, Alayna Smith, Aidan Tomky and Damon Spady. Teams receive an item of business along with five motions related to that business. Each team member except the chairman is assigned one of these motions.  To score well, each team member must bring up an additional motion of their choosing and present it in a way that relates to the business item. In addition, each member of the team takes a written test over parliamentary knowledge.
Two students earned top honors in Junior High FFA speaking events.  Jason Fortkamp took first place in Ag Literacy Speaking and Hayden Fowler earned first in Discovery Speaking.  In Ag Literacy, a student writes and presents a  two-four minute speech relating to agriculture processes of bringing food and food products from production to consumer.  In Discovery Speaking, a student develops a two-four minute speech that may address any current and relevant topic of the agriculture industry’s career pathways.  Both Fortkamp and Fowler will compete at the state competition.
Imperial’s three Junior High Quiz Ag  Quiz Bowl teams also placed well. The team of  Jackson Sauder, Hayden Fowler, James Adle and Clayson Thayer took first place. Coming in second was the team of Maura May, Emalyn Olsen, Jason Fortkamp, Anna McNair. The team of Bennett Richmond, Andrew Fortkamp and Emerson Beemer placed 7th in spite of missing one member due to illness.  These teams will also compete at the state competition.
The Ag Demonstration team of Odessa Zadina, Kadence Wallin, Alex Nelson, and Ali Reeves placed fourth and are alternates to state. The team presented a demonstration on proper hoof care and shoeing of horses. This was followed but five minutes of questioning by judges.
Imperial had two students competing in Employment Skills. Beau Weiss earned fourth place purple and alternate to state and Carter Kuenning received red. Students submit a letter of application, resume and job application for a specific job and then interview with judges who act as potential employers.
Three students competed in the FFA Creed Speaking Contest.  Bennett Kuenning was fourth place purple and alternate to state, Sawyer Sauder was fifth place purple and Dietrich Pursley received a white ribbon. Students recite from memory the five paragraph FFA Creed and then answer questions related to the Creed and ideas that it represents.
“We had a good day qualifying several teams and individuals for state. We just missed on another team and individual. I would like to thank Arlys Cupp, Kim Bubak and Kayla Sauder for all their work in preparing junior high students and individuals. Their support is essential to the success of our young members. We have three more district competitions and one invitational before state so it will be a busy couple of months,” stated Randy Vlasin, FFA Advisor.
The Imperial FFA members will be involved with State FFA Degree Interviews on Feb 4th, District Career Development competitions on February 11, 23, 27 and March 3rd.