East Knox FFA members compete in public speaking

Three members of the East Knox FFA recently competed in the Knox County FFA public speaking career development event held at Centerburg High School. The top two contestants in each of the speaking categories advance to the District 7 contest hosted by Clear Fork FFA this year.

In the Advanced Prepared Division, Miranda Fawcett finished in fourth place with a Gold rating in the county with a 6 to 8 minute speech entitled “Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture.” In this division, contestants write and memorize an agricultural speech that meets the time requirements. They are scored on presentation and response to questions.

In the Extemporaneous Speaking competition, members draw a topic where they then have 30 minutes to research and prepare notes prior to meeting the judges where they will present a 4 to 6 minute speech on that selected topic. This year John Chadwick presented his speech on "Will the widespread adoption of ‘super weed’ resistant cops eventually lead to a total collapse of chemical weed control.” Chadwick placed seventh overall with a gold rating.

In the creed division, which is only open to freshman members, the participants recite the five paragraph FFA creed and answer questions from the judges about the creed. McKenzie Schwartz finished in fifth place with a Gold rating in the county.

The public speaking career development event is designed to enhance members’ communication skills that are vital in developing leadership and career success.