FFA (Future Farmers of America) competed in the Area VII Leadership Development Events in Kerrville Nov. 20. Teams participated in four categories, including Ag Advocacy, Ag Issues, Greenhand Creed Speaking and Greenhand Skills. FFA previously competed in Burnet Nov. 4 at the Bluebonnet District Leadership Contest.

“I am proud of all of our teams for advancing this far,” FFA coach Judy Hail said. “We may not have performed as well as we had hoped going into this [competition], but I still applaud our FFA students for putting in the effort.”

There were no advances to State, though Greenhand Creed Speaking and Ag Issues competitor freshman Leah Walker placed 3rd. The Greenhand Skills team placed 7th, while the Ag Advocacy and Ag Issues teams placed 8th.

“[Our team] spent countless hours [preparing] together during school, on weekends, bus rides and the night before the competition at the hotel,” Ag Issues competitor sophomore Devon Lively said. “As a team we placed 8th, which was very disappointing because we had spent so much time and effort trying to [do our best], but I personally feel that it was one of my best performances.”

Competitors shared mixed feelings about competing, describing both nervousness and excitement about trying to advance to State.

“My Ag Issues team did amazing at Area,” Walker said. “There were a few bumps in the road, but we were able to get back on track. Although it was a lot of work to get to Area and I was a little bummed out that I wasn’t going to State, it was so much fun to get to go and meet some new people and learn from all of the notes the judges gave me.”

Hail has continued to express support for all of the competitors and determination in using the competition and results for future growth.

“We could all have performed better, but we did as well as we could and learned a lot from this,” Hail said. “I’m very proud of everyone who competed in Burnet and Kerrville and hope we can all take something away from this competition to improve.”