On Thursday March 10th, 2022, I participated in the 2022 FFA Area Public Speaking Contest, but to get to that point I had to prepare a lot. I first had to come up with my topic, and the topic had to be related to agriculture. I decided on the topic of how the mental health of farmers is overlooked and is not taken seriously enough.

After coming up with the topic, I had to research it. I researched it for about two weeks and then started my rough draft. I had my English teacher, Mrs. Heming,  and FFA advisor, Mr. Kreitzer, proofread it and then I made further changes. I finished my final draft two weeks before the competition.

Having my speech completed, I would stay after school to practice presenting my speech. I had a panel of judges consisting of Mr. Kreitzer, Mrs. Heming, Miss. Gimbi, and Mr. Wessner. After I presented my speech, which had to be within a time limit of 3-5 minutes, the panel of judges would then have three minutes to ask me questions. 

Leading up to the competition I was feeling very nervous, yet I was still excited. I used the nerves to fuel my drive to succeed and place well. When Thursday came I was starting to become anxious about the competition. We were to leave at 8:00 am but that changed due to a two-hour delay. My anxiety was increasing because I wasn’t sure how this would affect the competition.  When we arrived I was escorted to a room with other students who were in my category; the Junior Prepared Speech.

There were a total of eleven in my division and I was going to be the last one to present, due to my late arrival. Having some extra time, I went to a separate part of the room to practice reading my speech aloud and to time myself. When the time came for me to speak I went into a separate room with three judges. I presented my speech to the judges and they then asked me four questions on my chosen topic.

Once I finished speaking, I went back into the room with all the participants and we awaited the results. I placed 6th, and the top 6 get to move on to the next level. The judges reviewed the positives and negatives about my speech and they congratulated me for being able to move on to the next round, which is the regional competition. Now I have some time to modify my speech, based on the judges critique, and hopefully improve my placing at the regional level.