Housatonic Valley FFA student speakers contend at district-wide competition

FALLS VILLAGE — On Thursday, March 27, the Housatonic Valley FFA hosted the Connecticut FFA District 1 Public Speaking Competition.

Students from five area FFA chapters — Shepaug, Northwestern, Wamogo, Woodbury and Housatonic Valley — participated in three different events.

The first of the three events is creed speaking, a competition where freshmen memorise and recite the FFA Creed written by E.M. Tiffany in 1928.

Prepared public speaking is the second competition, in which participants write and deliver a six to eight minute speech about the agricultural topic of their choice.

Those competing in extemporaneous public speaking have 30 minutes to draw a topic, research, prepare and deliver a three to five minute speech.

Housatonic’sRiley Mahaffey finished second and Byron Bell took third place in extemporaneous public speaking. Zayre Traill was the runner-up in FFA Creed, and Madison Gulatta took first place in prepared public speaking.

Mahaffey, a junior, is a two-time national public speaker, winning creed speaking at the state FFA convention her freshman year and prepared public speaking at the state level her sophomore year. Her second-place finish in extemporaneous public speaking at the district level last week secured her spot in this year’s state competition, and she plans to compete at the national level again next fall.

Hannah Johnson is Housatonic Valley FFA’s reporter.