Bound for Nationals: Broadwater FFA
Author: Eliza Mclaughlin
Bound for Nationals: Broadwater High FFA
Broadwater High School has sent its fourth team to the National Future Famers of America Convention in Indianapolis from Oct. 26-29. They are competing in parliamentary procedure after earning their invitation to the convention in an “unexpected way.”
The six-student team placed fourth in the parliamentary procedure during the state competition during the 2021-22 school year. All of the higher-placing teams were unable to attend the convention creating an opening for the Bulldogs. The Townsend team received rather short notice, leaving them with plenty of last minute preparations.
Jemma Loughery, a teacher at Broadwater High and the school’s FFA advisor, said the team was contacted at the end of August about representing the state of Montana at the national convention. Despite having graduated two of its team members and needing to train a newcomer, they accepted the task. “They’re excited to give it a go,” Loughery said, explaining that the teams representing other states have likely practiced and fundraised all summer.
Returning team members include Justene Santi, Jacob Pesicka, Mikayla Kraft and the two graduated seniors: Brooke Edgerton and Bailey Taves. Joining them is Amanda Pesicka, who has not competed in a parliamentary procedure before. Four other FFA members, Broadwater High Principal Sheri Heaven and an FFA alumni member will join Loughery and the team in Indianapolis.
Parliamentary procedure requires participants to learn how to properly run a meeting, proving their knowledge by making a series of required motions while debating during a mock meeting.
Santi and her teammates became involved with the competition after being “blackmailed into it,” she said. While at an FFA convention the previous year, Santi and her cohorts requested that their 9:30 p.m. curfew be extended so they could swim in the hotel pool. After what Loughery referred to as a series of “negotiations,” she permitted the extension under the condition that they form a parliamentary procedure team. “It turned out for the better because now we get to go to nationals,” Jacob Pesicka said.
Loughery was especially interested in having a parliamentary procedure team since she participated in the competition during her time in FFA. The team’s preparations for the competition have included learning Robert’s Rules of Order and how to use the book, and taking a “big test” on general motions, according to Kraft. “That was crazy, that took all day,” she said.
Once at the national competition, each team member will receive a card that lists a motion they must make within the 11-minute mock meeting. They will have one minute to look it over privately. Although team members will see all of the required motions, they won’t know who has which ones. The team must make additional motions while providing debate on the topic to earn maximum points, according to Loughery. Following the mock meeting, the team must answer questions from the judges about the motions they made.
In addition to preparing for the competition, Broadwater High’s FFA has also spent time fundraising to cover the cost of travel. Loughery said it cost the group approximately $13,000 to attend, at roughly $1,000 per student. Broadwater FFA Alumni have donated $100 per student to help with travel costs. Any uncovered expenses were paid for by the students. With such short notice, the only fundraising the FFA was able to conduct was selling funnel cake at Townsend’s Fall Fest and requesting donations.
Despite their lack of preparation time, the crew is excited to attend. “Nationals is just a huge experience,” Santi said, calling it the “opportunity of a lifetime to go and compete at a national level.” Since this is Amanda Pesicka’s first time attending the national convention, she is most excited to see and meet people from different areas while learning how they run their teams. And meet new people they will. Loughery said that more than 70,000 people often attend the National FFA Convention. Bringing people together is one of the many reasons the Broadwater High team participates in FFA. “It brings outside kids in,” Santi said, adding that they form their own little family. “Everyone fits in in FFA, it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”
And for anyone confused about what FFA does, Santi says it best: “It’s more than just cows,” FFA provides students with both leadership and career development, Loughery said, which could lead to scholarships later on. Since FFA is an “extracurricular” program, it is a critical piece to an “all-inclusive agriculture program,” according to Loughery. The other pieces of this agriculture education puzzle are in classroom instruction and supervised agriculture experience, which Loughery requires as part of her agriculture classes. “FFA is the fun part,” she said.
After being hired at Broadwater High, Loughery helped set up the school’s FFA program, which kicked off in 2015. And she never doubted that running the program was what she wanted to do. “It wasn’t whether or not to do FFA but how to do it,” she said. Now in the eighth year of the program, Loughery said her students have accomplished unheard of things, including getting to go on a livestock tour in Scotland and Ireland in 2019 after placing high enough at the national convention.
Once the team has returned from the national convention, they will jump right back into competing at the Montana Agriculture Exposition in Bozeman on Nov. 10—12. Loughery plans to take 13—15 students to the expo to compete in various areas. “We’ll need a bus this time!” Loughery said, excited by the program’s growth.
The teams, divided into livestock, sales, vet science, meat evaluation, FFA creed and prepared speaking, are determined by the students’ personal interests. Regardless of the competitions students participate in, the expo will provide them with an intensive schedule, which Loughery said will keep them busy from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Attending the exposition will cost the group $900 overall and like the national convention, students will pay uncovered expenses out of pocket.
Those interested in donating to the Broadwater High FFA program can do so at the high school’s front office or via Venmo: @Broadwater-FFA.
Good luck at nationals!
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: FFA
Image 1 Caption: The picture is the 4th place Montana Parliamentary Procedure Team. The only one
not attending nationals will be Colton Noyes (he was on our 2019 national team)
Amanda Pesicka is taking his place on the National Team this year.from Left to Right : Jacob Pesicka, Justene Santi, Bailey Taves, Brooke Edgerton, Mikayla Kraft, Colton Noyes, and Mrs. Loughery.
