On December 2th, 28 members of the S-E-M FFA chapter attended the District Leadership Skills events in Ord.  The members competed in a variety of events ranging from speeches, to parliamentary procedure, and demonstrations, to job interviews.

In speaking events, Senior Alec Ibach competed in Sr. Public speaking giving a speech on social media in agriculture.  The speech earned Alec a blue ribbon and 4th place.  In Extemporaneous speaking, Senior Ben Trampe and Travis line competed, with Ben getting 1st Place and Travis getting 4th.  In Creed speaking Brian Guerra presented the FFA Creed and received a blue ribbon.  Brookelyn Trampe also competed and received a red.  In Natural Resource speaking, Junior Sara Simmons presented her speech on tap water vs. bottled water.  She earned 3rd place and is an alternate to state.  In Junior Public Speaking sophomore, Brandon Trampe presented a speech on John Deere, the man and the company.  Brandon received 4th place and a Blue ribbon for his speech.  Brandon competed against other freshman and sophomores in his contest.  In the Job Interview contest, Senior Emily Ibach applied for a job in Farmers Market management.  She earned 1st place out of 15 individual and a trip to state for her skills in this area.   Evan Ibach also competed applying for an overseas internship in agriculture.  He received 5th place and a blue.  In Cooperative speaking, Junior Lauren Ibach prepared a speech about local cooperatives in the form of a newscast.  Lauren received first place and a trip to the state convention with her speech.  Junior Nissa Brown attended to tape events and support the teams and speakers. 

In team contests, the S-E-M FFA chapter faired extremely well.  We had a junior high quiz bowl team for the first time ever.  The team consisted of Aaron Simmons, Miranda Pierce, Rachel Ibach, and Jaden Pierce.  They had some tough luck but still had fun.  In the Junior Parliamentary Procedure contest, FFA member demonstrate 3 motions of parliamentary procedure with different presidents for each motion.  The team consisting of Parliamentarian, Chase Erwin, Reporter, Calvin Frerichs, Vice President, Austin Pierce, President, Kristen Karlberg, Secretary, Brookelyn Trampe, Treasurer, Joe Harshbarger, and Sentinel, Brian Guerra, earned 1st place and is the headed to State convention.  This team has a strong future and can compete in this event again next year!!  The Senior Parliamentary Procedure team of Dylan Smith, Ben Trampe, Travis line, Jacob Pierce, Deidra Brooks and Megan Berg got 3rd and a blue ribbon.  They are alternates to state. Finally, the Agriculture Demonstration team of Lauren Ibach, Dillan Line, and Sara Simmons gave a demonstration on how to use take samples for Beef DNA testing.  They demonstrated skills that can help farmers in determining the future of their operation or the quality of their cattle.  The team received 1st out of 13 teams and will represent

S-E-M at the state convention.  Another demonstration team of Kearney students taking distance classes from S-E-M demonstrated how to do a home pregnancy test on a mare using blood sampling.  They received 4th in the same contest.   All the teams and individuals that earned the right to state will compete at the Nebraska State FFA Convention April 7-10 in Lincoln.