Thorp FFA Students Compete in Sectional Speaking Contest

Thursday, March 31st, 2022 -- 11:00 AM

Thorp played host to the Sectional Speaking Contest for FFA on March 14th.

Students had to take 1st to advance on to state and will compete against 9 other individuals from around Wisconsin for a chance to advance onto Nationals in October in Indianapolis.

Competing in the Parliamentary Procedure and taking 3rd was Luke Schraufnagel, Elena Ciolkosz, Jacob Ciolkosz, Carson Anderson, Samuel Thompson and Rachel Boehlke. Competing in the Creed Contest and taking 3rd was Izzy Nowobielski.

Competing in the Prepared speaking contest and taking 1st was Rachel Boehlke.  Rachel's speech was titled Rural America: The Workforce Crisis, it was a persuasive speech about local agriculture and the need to find workers, listing strategies for producers to secure good workers, use technology and the importance of mentoring young people.

Rachel wowed the judges with her speech and she will compete at the State FFA Convention in Madison in June. A segment of her speech “People don’t quit jobs, they quit people” (Maxwell, 2020).

This is true with young workers who need a positive connection in order for them to feel that they have worth.  To teach a young person how to strip out a cow udder or how to measure a scoop of feed is just one part of the battle. The larger battle is building self-worth in a young person.

The Lifeworks Counseling Center (2020) had studies that showed how teenagers don’t handle stress well enough which leads to mental health problems. Farmers can save lives by investing in building self worth and developing positive relationships in young people through physical work.

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