Opening and Closing 2025

The meeting room will come to order!
On September 24th, we attended the annual Merced-Mariposa Sectional Opening and Closing Ceremonies contest at Atwater High School. Golden Valley FFA took 7 teams, all taking positions at gold, silver, and bronze awards. A big round of applause to our officer team, who placed third overall! We give another congratulations to Timothy Whitfield, Parker Crooks, Chloe DeLeon, Aubri Villa, Savanna Benc, and Lacey Spielman for being awarded as outstanding officers in their rooms! One of our newest greenhands, Jack Carvelli, set the tone at the contest by bringing the energy into a fun round of karaoke.
    The purpose of this competition is to introduce leadership to our newest FFA members. It teaches them to work as a team and develop public speaking skills. One of our outstanding freshmen, Parker Crooks, was excited to share his Greenhand experience of the opening and closing contest: “My time in the FFA opening and closing ceremony was a blast. I had memorized my lines with ease. I worked hard to memorize them, and when the time came, I unfolded my lines with ease. I stood tall and proud, as I spoke my lines effortlessly. I believe I did really well and received the outstanding reporter's award for doing exceptional work on my part. I am happy for all of my other FFA members for doing well.” We are excited for Parkers future in our program and can’t wait to see what challenges he will take on next!
    This year the Merced-Mariposa FFA Section opened the contest to advanced teams. These teams are specific to students above the Greenhand level. We enjoyed seeing our FFA members be excited for this competition, as it was nostalgic for them to participate in the contest again. One of our junior FFA members and outstanding officer recipient, Aubri Villa, was more than happy to talk about her experience: “Our evening at Atwater High School for our Opening and Closing Competition was a great opportunity for me, and I’m so glad I didn’t pass it up! I was able to showcase my experience in public speaking, and my team was amazing. The celebration afterwards was a fun night and was filled with giggles. I’ll definitely be back for my senior year to potentially perform a larger speaking role.” The Golden Valley FFA Chapter is very proud of Aubri’s enthusiasm and how it reflects the dedication our FFA members pour into our organization.
    Our chapter loves to see our students find their first spark in the organization, and this contest starts a wildfire! It was definitely a defining moment in our members’ futures because no member forgets their first SAE project, their first jacket, or their first speaking role! We can’t wait to be there next year with the next bunch!

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