*A little about the contest: Extemporaneous speaking or Extemp for short is a contest we as an FFA offer to students for them to hone in on their ability to think on their feet and handle a wide range of agriculture topics. Contestants are presented three ag-based topics, they select one and are given thirty minutes to prep a four to six-minute speech based on the topic. Like any speech, there needs to be a beginning, middle and end all with a personal flare and research to back-up claims made. Students are allowed to have up to five materials such as a textbook, magazine or a notebook with printed off articles to help provide facts and sources for their speech.*
My senior year of high school I sat in Scheman staring at the walls when a gruff stout man came in and slammed my notebooks of materials in front of me.
“There’s something wrong with your notebook,” said the stout man with Jolly Ranchers on his breath.
“Okay, and that is?” I replied puzzled. Did I overly care about my notebook? No, but it was one of those nice things to have just in case I had a brain fart.
“You don’t have any page numbers.” I coulda swore it was Blue Raspberry on his breath but it was hard to tell.
“I need page numbers?”
“Yes. Do you have another copy?”
“No.” Maybe it was Grape. Eh, probably a mix of both.
“We’re taking your notebook from you. You can’t use it because you don’t have page numbers.”
“Okay.”
“Like now. We’re taking it now. You’re not going to get to use it for the competition.”
“Great. Go ahead.” He seemed floored by my response. He must have been expecting a sob story, maybe for me to barter with him? Whatever he was looking for I wasn’t giving it to him.
He glared at me, grabbed my notebook, and placed three notecards in front of me. I thought I heard him mumble “Good Luck” but I doubt it.
Snatching the “How will Technology change Agriculture in the Future?” card I set to work on my speech. I was excited to simply be competing at state. My advisor and I had had multiple lengthy discussions about me competiting in this contest. The principle of more or less doing a speech improv style in front of a group of people who are clearly more informed on the subjects terrified me. Being one of two who competed at sub-districts I hadn’t put much hope in me getting past districts, yet here I was.
Thirty minutes up, I collected my things and set out to the competition room with the Courtesy Corps member. Outside the doors, I was prepped by a kind woman on how it would work once I got in there. She led me in and in the audience was my family and advisor with some other members in there just to watch. In my head, I was setting the Over/Under on how long until they figured out I was flying by the seat of my pants on this speech.
The speech felt solid, I conveyed my message and the audience seemed engaged. I couldn’t really ask for more. After being berated by the judge’s questions for five minutes I stepped outside. My family seemed shocked about me losing my notebook and my advisor chuckled a “Told you you could do it” to himself. Oh well, it was over now.
Cut to later that afternoon, I found out I had gotten a gold! Holy cow! Up on stage in the bright lights, they called my name as the winner! To say I was surprised was an understatement.
Why do I tell you this story? As I’ve traveled the state, interacted with members from all over, and seen where they’re all coming from a theme stands out to me. We sometimes get so focused on making sure everything “goes right” that we don’t appreciate what we have right in front of us. Life doesn’t play fair and the situations we find ourselves in can sometimes be overwhelming. But it’s what we do in those moments that define our character. I could have easily scratched myself from the competition then and there and walked away because things didn’t go according to plan. Heck, I could have told my advisor I wasn’t competiting that year and not even listened to him. But then I would have missed the ride, the adventure of competing with some of the best speakers in the Iowa FFA with only what I had learned in ag class and time spent in the barn to go off of. Yeah sometimes its uncomfortable and we don’t always win, but as Babe Ruth once said, “It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up.”
Go Get Em,
Chandler Jahner
State President
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| Me and the State Champion Plaque. Can you see the disbelief on my face? |
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