The Stephens County Future Farmers of America (FFA) participated in multiple state-level competitions during the annual Georgia FFA Convention held April 24-27, 2024, in Macon, Georgia.
Parliamentary Procedure team
The Parliamentary Procedure team won first place. Two Stephens County High School (SCHS) Seniors, Amelia Housley and Teeghan Jameson won first-place honors for their proficiency projects.
These state winners earned the opportunity to compete at the National FFA Convention and Expo in October 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Parliamentary Procedure contest is a six-man team consisting of one chairperson, and five debaters, including the secretary.
Once the contest starts, the team walks in, reads the prompt, and has one minute to prepare. In this prompt, the team is given a main motion topic to discuss and extra motions they must complete.
No one can be fully prepared because the topic is unknown until one minute before the debate begins.
Students work as a team to follow parliamentary procedures to conduct an official business meeting while handling business and entering mock debates, which must address and follow the criteria of the prompt.
This debate is then followed by oral questions to display the students’ knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order, in addition to performing a team activity that is part of a test that dives into the knowledge about parliamentary procedure and different rules of order.
The Stephens County FFA Advisors and Agriculture Teachers are Josh Brown, Hannah Dinkins, Ethan Holton, and Madison Holton.
SCHS students on the Parliamentary Procedure team are Wyatt Hammons, Teeghan Jameson, Arwen Bratten, Emma Hornick, Kerragen Craig, and Emma Dean.
Proficiency project awards
Proficiency project awards are awarded to FFA members who have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) in their chosen interest in agriculture. Each year a student works to maintain the SAE project for a grade. Students who have exemplary projects maintain the same project for multiple years.
Amelia won first place in the Agricultural Communications Proficiency and was also awarded a $1,000 Georgia Ford Dealers Scholarship. In addition to being on the state-winning Parliamentary Procedure team, Teeghan Jameson earned first place in the Environmental and Natural Resource Proficiency.
Highest honorary degree at state level
Nine students from the Stephens County FFA earned the State FFA Degree. This is the highest honorary degree students can earn at the state level. It demonstrates the effort FFA members apply toward their supervised agricultural experience (SAE), outstanding leadership abilities, and community involvement through their FFA career.
The 2024 State FFA Degree recipients included Wyatt Hammons, Addison Canberg, Emma Hornick, Leah Bradshaw, Grace Ellis, Elijah Sweat, Carissa Smith, Anna Glaze, and Grant Ware.
Emma Hornick was recognized during the Georgia FFA Convention for winning the Mr. Warren Wilkinson Memorial Washington Leadership Conference Scholarship presented by Mr. John K. Wilkinson. Hornick was selected to represent Stephens County in Washington, DC, this summer as part of this exclusive national leadership and service experience.
Superintendent Dr. Connie Franklin adds “Congratulations to the Stephens County FFA members and advisors on this exceptional showing at the state level. These students represented Stephens County well and are prepared for future leadership positions in all areas, not just agriculture. We are proud of them for their ongoing pursuit of academic success and leadership excellence.”
