Last week, Hobbton High’s FFA Parliamentary Procedure team made it all the way to the Final Four, competing against 22 other schools from around the state at the state FFA State Convention.
The convention was held at the Raleigh Convention Center.
Johnny Jessup, FFA advisor and agriculture teacher at Hobbton High, explained how hard the students had to work to get there.
First, he explained what parliamentary procedure actually involves.
“You have to do the opening and closing ceremonies; you’re given a subjugate, then you have to present a meeting based on that subjugate, and each student has a parliamentary procedure ability that they must complete,” he explained.
Parliamentary procedure consists of the correct set of rules for conducting a business meeting. There are 15 possible abilities, and the students don’t know which one they might get, he said.
Some abilities include how to introduce main motions properly, amend motions, and conduct re-votes.
The students see if someone on the team has that ability, although not all of them are likely to.
When students reach the state level, each student has to complete a knowledge test based on parliamentary procedure.
“It’s a very difficult test,” Jessup remarked.
“It takes a lot of hours of practice to learn how to work together so everyone can get their ability done. Most people would have a lot of trouble with that test,” he said.
This year, in the preliminary round, there were approximately 22 schools that qualified across the state.
Jessup explained that those students who won the preliminary round competed the next morning in the big convention hall, this time with an audience.
“That adds an extra layer of pressure,” he emphasized.
There, the students were judged on completing the abilities, whether the discussion is relevant and coherent, how well the students perform with their speaking abilities, and how well the meeting is conducted.
Following the discussion, “the judges start throwing questions at them.”
The students have no idea what questions the judges will ask, the ag teacher explained.
“It’s quite a lot,” Jessup said, “and I’m very proud. They did very well. We’re a very small school here in Sampson County, and we competed against some schools in which their FFA chapters were larger than our entire high school.”
Grace Harris was the chair of Hobbton’s parliamentary procedure team. The rest of the team consisted of Lola Warren, Alison Garcia Alvarado, Karyme Medrano, Naomi Villagran, and Geiry Thomas.
Harris, Warren, and Medrano were all returning seniors who competed on last year’s team. They made it to the Final Four last year, too.
Harris will be attending N.C. State, and her goal is to be a veterinarian. Warren will also attend N.C. State, and hopes to perhaps become a speech therapist. Medrano will go to Fayetteville Tech, where she will study in the horticulture program.
Also during the conference, Hobbton’s Introduction to Horticulture team placed fifth in the state, and five Hobbton students were recipients of State Degrees.
Jessup was recognized for his term this past year as the chair of the FFA Board of Directors.
He said the procedure team is never lacking in students interested in competing.
“I’ve already got kids who have come to me and expressed interest in being on next year’s team.”
The students find time to practice during the year by coming in an hour before school starts.
‘That gives us enough time to do two, sometimes three, business meetings,” Jessup pointed out, noting, “then we can debrief and go over what was good, what was bad, and what can be done differently to be better the next go-around.
“This is a skill set that translates to any number of things in life…if you know parliamentary procedure, you have a leg up on everyone else…some want to go into politics one day. Commissioners, the Board of Education, all of those meetings are run by parliamentary procedure.”
Jessup added that when he has students who are interested in doing something, he’s going to go out and learn as much as he can so that he can help his students be successful.