FFA Qualifies Two for State, Chapter Celebrates FFA Week, Officers Retreat
Launch the media gallery 1 playerOn February 16th, four FFA members, Matthisen Witzel, Janeth Perez-Medina, Coy DeWaal, and Mason Schmid along with advisor Tiffany Poet attended the District Speech Contest and Selection Day in Natoma, Kansas. These members have been working on their speech for the past two months. The speeches were the same that the members presented in Manhattan at the beginning of the month. All four members wrote, memorized and presented a prepared speech varying in length from 3-6 minutes which depended on the grade level. Additionally, DeWaal and Witzel each participated in Extemporaneous Speaking. For this speech they drew a topic and had 30 minutes to prepare and memorize a 4-6 minute speech. All four members advanced onto the finals. They took the top half of each room. Our top placer was Matthisen Witzel placing first in her extemporaneous and fifth with her prepared speech that compared FFA to her experiences with Agriculture in Brazil. DeWaal placed fifth with his extemporaneous speech. Both DeWaal and Witzel won the opportunity to compete at State FFA Convention at the end of May. Overall, the team placed fifth. Saint Francis has a representative slated for district office. Matthisen Witzel had her first interview, she is slated to be District Reporter/Sentinel. She will present a speech at District Banquet and delegates will vote for candidates. Makayla Rogers applied for her Kansas State Degree and made it past the district check. Making her the newest candidate from St Francis.
Launch the media gallery 2 playerThe Executive Officer team had postponed their annual officer retreat from this summer due to illness and conflicting schedules. On Feb 11th, the executive officers were able to complete the planned community service and team building activities. They attended Christ in the City training until noon where they learned statistics on Denver’s homeless population and how to interact with the people we would be serving. After training the officer team headed to the Lincoln Park to serve lunch to the homeless. It was a rewarding experience that opened the eyes of the team to real world problems and encouraged them to find compassion for their fellow human beings. The day ended with an event at the Great Escape Room for a team problem solving exercise. It helped with their communication and teamwork that enabled them to figure of a series of clues and “escape” before the hour was over.
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