James River High School junior Bailey Marshall added another trophy to the list of accomplishments that members of the school’s FFA chapter have been growing all summer.

Marshall won the Prepared Speaking Leadership Development Event at the 2017 Eastern Regional FFA (The Big E) in Springfield, Mass. in mid-September.

She competed against eight other state FFA winners or runner-up speakers from around the country.

Bailey qualified for the Big E with a second place in the Virginia event earlier in the summer and represented the James River chapter and Virginia FFA Association at the regional event.

The Big E accepts teams and individuals who placed less than first place in state competitions. This provides more learning opportunities for more students. Generally, first place teams and individuals in state events go to the National Competition and second place teams to The Big E.

The Public Speaking competition is part of The Big E FFA Career Development Events.

Participants in the Prepared Speaking Leadership Development Event may choose any current subject for their speeches, which is of an agricultural nature. This may include agri-science and technology, agribusiness, agri-marketing, international agricultural relations, and agricultural communications.

Each speech has a minimum of six minutes in length and a maximum of eight minutes. Each participant is allowed five minutes additional time in which he or she is asked questions relating to the speech.

Marshall’s not done competing this fall, though.

She will join other JRHS FFA chapter members in the National FFA Convention and Expo later this month in Indianapolis, Ind. She’s one of four members on the chapter’s Virginia champion Poultry Evaluation Team along with Madeline Cummings, Davis Fenster and Mason Sowers.

Those four and a dozen other chapter members will be competing at the nationals.

The other JRHS FFA teams that won the Virginia competitions and have continued practicing for the nationals are:

• Environmental and Natural Resources with team members Jeff Bower, Skyler Camper, Jarrod Hix and Daniel Holter
• Livestock Evaluation with team members Mikayla Fay, Olivia Gilliam, Sarah Harris and Tyller Roney.

Four other chapter members also have been training for the competition. The JRHS chapter was named the No. 1 FFA chapter in Virginia and qualified to apply for the National Chapter Award. The National FFA then named the chapter one of 10 finalists for the Model of Excellence recognition program.

This recognition highlights James River FFA as one of the top 10 FFA programs in the nation and allows the chapter members to compete for the top FFA chapter in the nation at the national convention October 25-28.

During that competition, the chapter members will provide a 10-minute presentation to a panel of judges highlighting opportunities that the chapter provides to students, the community and agriculture.  The chapter representatives will then receive eight minutes of questions from a panel of judges who will make the final decision of who the top FFA chapter in the nation will be.

For more information about how you can help support the James River FFA Chapter and their trip to the National FFA Convention and Expo, contact Agricultural Educator and FFA Advisor Zach Wakeman by email jrffa@bcps.k12.va.us or by phone at 254-1121.

This is the first time the chapter has been named the top FFA program in Virginia.

The chapter’s National Chapter Award application will now move on to be evaluated at the national level later this summer.

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