Medical Lake High School's Mollee Gray (left) moments after she won the extemporaneous speaking competition at the state FFA convention, along with her adviser Jennie Wagner.
Medical Lake High School senior Mollee Gray will represent her school at the National Future Farmers of America Convention and Expo, which takes place Oct. 19-22 in Indianapolis.
Gray will be competing in extemporaneous speaking, where participants are given 30 minutes to deliver a speech on one of three assigned agricultural topics. According to FFA's website this event requires students "to think on their feet and develop an argument quickly and persuasively."
Gray qualified for nationals after she finished first at the state convention in May.
"My final speech was on 'social media in agriculture,' which was an easier speech for me to write because we did that topic for our Agriculture Issues team in my sophomore year," Gray said.
"Her final speech was amazing," Jennie Wagner, Medical Lake's FFA adviser, said "I was next to one of the state directors who asked me if she (Gray) would run for state office?'"
Gray said after she was announced the winner, Wagner nearly tackled her out of excitement.
"I could hear her yell 'Oh my gosh, Mollee!'" Gray said, noting that she was the first of Wagner's students to qualify for nationals. "She made it seem like it was a proud parent-like moment for her. I was still taking it in."
Gray said the topics for extemporaneous speaking can range from food and facts to the affect social media can have on agriculture. While topics mostly center on United States agriculture, Gray said there may be some topics relating to international agriculture.
Participants will go into a room and spend 30 minutes writing and preparing their speech for a panel of judges. Gray has a notebook where she can have up to 100 pages of notes with information and articles she has gathered - nothing handwritten - and a food and facts booklet to help her write her speech.
"When I get in there (to prepare my speech), I'll use the notes and break it down as if I am writing a five-paragraph essay," Gray said. "I'll finish in about 20-25 minutes, which also gives me time to practice what I'm going to say to the judges."
After she delivers her speech, Gray will take five minutes to answer questions from judges.
To prepare for the convention, Gray said Wagner requires her to give a speech in class every day.
"I pick a topic out of a cup and go in the office to prepare my speech," Gray said. "It's been good because peer pressure is scarier than judges. Wagner also picked the hardest topics for me to write about."
Gray added that her classmates will judge her better than the officials at the convention and will give her more feedback about her speech.
Gray said her sister, Connlee Gray, gave her some "words of wisdom" for the convention.
"She's the main reason I got involved in FFA and I got to know Wagner," Gray added.
Gray will begin nationals by competing in preliminary heats on Wednesday morning (Oct. 19). If she gets past the preliminaries, she will move on to the semifinals that evening. She said her goal is to get past the preliminary round.
In addition to the competition, Gray said she will get a chance to tour Indianapolis with her mother and Wagner, as well as have an opportunity to watch other sessions at the convention and bring some ideas to her school's agriculture issues team.
"I can come back and say 'this is what the best schools are doing and these are the topics they did,'" she said.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)