The following is a press Release for the Chelan High School Agriculture Education Department and the Chelan FFA. We would appreciate any and all coverage of our events and student successes. For more information, contact our Chapter Advisor, Rod Cool, or Chapter Reporter, Chelsea Gocke at (509) 682-4061 ext 129 during school hours.

Thank you for your time and consideration and for your continued support of the Chelan FFA and high school agriculture education.

Chelan High School

Agriculture Education Deparment/Chelan FFA

News Release

7 Mar 08

For Immediate Release –Wenatchee High School was the site of the first and very successful step for Chelan FFA Members as they begin their run towards the Washington State FFA Leadership Career Development Events held in May. The South Sub-District VII Leadership CDEs were hosted by the Wenatchee FFA on Thursday Mar 6^th to determine which competitors would advance to the District VII Leadership CDE in Chelan on April 9^th and vie for one of three berths to State competition. At stake were nine spots in district competition and the Chelan Chapter came home with seven of those nine spots with every competitor advancing.

In the Prepared Public Speaking CDE, competitors must research, write, and deliver a six to eight minute speech on an agricultural related topic. They are evaluated on the typed manuscript of the speech, their poise, their power of expression, knowledge of subject matter, meeting the time requirement, and then answering five minutes of questions. Tucker Cool brought home the first place banner and Chelsea Gocke earning the second place banner.

In the Extemporaneous Public Speaking CDE, members draw from a pool of twelve unknown topics, then using only five sources of information they must bring with them; they have thirty minutes to prepare a four to six minute speech. They are evaluated on the same criteria as in public speaking. For Chelan it was a sweep with Tucker Cool 1^st, Tyler Allen 2^nd, and Blake Soreano 3^rd.

The Rituals CDE is designed for first year members only. In teams of six, competitors have to perform the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of an official FFA meeting. They also are given a problem in where they are to discuss and develop a solution to that problem as a group and present their decisions to the judges. They have seven minutes to complete the problem solving portion. They are evaluated on their power of expression, poise, technical correctness, how well they work as a team, and the quality of their decisions reached. The team of Mikiya Stowe, Sammi Jo Cool, Bree Burton, April Rosas, Chantel Neilson, and Jenny Smith earned the second place banner. And, the team of Janet Lopez, Zaren Sandum, Suleyma Bravo, Jane Horlebein, Jorge Villasenor, and Blake Soreano won the third place banner.

In conjunction with the leadership CDEs a Agriculture Mechanic CDE was also held. Members competed on teams of four to build a stacking tool box constructed from 1/8^th inch plate with sheet metal drawers. Each team member had to construct one drawer and then the team assembled it at the end of the competition. One drawer had to be arc welded, one had to be gas welded, and one had to be MIG welded and fourth was the team’s choice of how to construct. Then all the drawers were butt welded together. Chelan had three teams in the competition. Team1 was Ross Young, Gerrick Lutz, Tyler Allen, and Tucker Cool. Team 2 was Mike Banks, Cory Dowell, Mitch Guimond, and Zac Sandum, and Team 3 was Jose Venegas, Matt Pittsinger, Jorge Villasenor, and Zaren Sandum.