Winning voices: More than 100 FFA students to compete in Le Mars

LCS students Jacob Conley, Angie Breuer and Zerick Kuecker prepare for the FFA leadership speaking contest, ranging from job interviews to a radio broadcast. The sub-district competition is being hosted at LCS from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The public can attend. [Click to enlarge]

On Tuesday at Le Mars Community School, senior Jacob Conley will make a radio ag. broadcast, junior Angie Breuer will speak on the pros and cons of ethanol, and senior Zerick Kuecker will do a job interview.

This is all part of the FFA Leadership Contests.

LCS is hosting the 2009 Sub-District competition, drawing more than 100 students from regional schools for the contests.

"They're speaking contests -- public speaking extemporaneous speaking, job interviews and team events like conducting a meeting," said Brett Oetken, the FFA advisor at LCS. "They range from parliamentary procedure where teams demonstrate how to properly run a business meeting to a sales contest where a student tries to sell a product to the judge, who acts like a customer."

The speeches are judged, and the top two students in each category advance to districts, and from there they have a chance to earn a spot at state.

Four local students will compete Tuesday. Conley, Breuer, Kuecker and Ryan Schroeder of Remsen, who will be competing in extemporaneous speaking.

For Conley, the competition will mean thinking on his feet.

To compete in ag. broadcasting, he'll be handed a sheet of information and given 30 minutes to pack it into a several-minute radio spot. He also has to come up with an advertisement for a made-up company.

Breuer, who advanced to state and placed third in creed speaking and fifth in ag. broadcasting last year, has been doing research for her speech on ethanol this year. And she's memorizing it.

"I'm talking about the economics of it and the environmental side," she said.

After she graduates Breuer's thinking about the health field.

"This is good communication training," she said of the competition. "You're always going to need it, no matter what job you go into."

In general, she said, the competition has helped her learn to be more of a team player.

"And I have more confidence in myself," Breuer said. "I can talk to anybody."

Kuecker, who's looking at going into farm equipment mechanics after graduation, said for his contest, the judges will give him several different jobs to choose from. He'll pick one, then they'll interview him as if he were applying.

"We use our real resume. Most the jobs they have are high school level jobs, and I've done a bunch of those kinds of jobs," Kuecker said.

This competition, he said, is good practice.

"You're going to have to use it a lot," he said.

Contests begin at LCS at 4:30 p.m. in the school and run until about 6 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend.