Shelly Sitton
Assistant Professor

Dwyane Cartmell
Assistant Professor
Oklahoma State University

Background

The FFA was founded in 1928 and for more than 70 years has focused on bringing classroom instruction to life through various activities (National FFA Organization, 2001). Today, there are more than 300 career opportunities in agriculture (National FFA Organization, 2002). FFA CDEs allow students to explore many of these careers including environmental and natural resources, livestock selection and agricultural communications. CDEs provide students the opportunity to work with peers, teachers and community leaders as they prepare for these events (National FFA Organization, 2002).

FFA contests are designed to complement classroom and laboratory instruction. According to the Official FFA Manual (as cited in Johnson, 1991), "All FFA contests are to be a natural outgrowth of the instructional program. The contests help make classes more interesting and encourage the development of special skills."

Competitive events also can serve as a mechanism for agricultural educators to motivate students to perfect and advance their occupational skills (Gamble, 1986). The advisor is the most influential person in helping students to choose a CDE area, and teachers should engage in activities that enhance classroom instruction and career opportunities (Deeds and Thomas, 1999).

The National FFA Career Development Events Handbook (2000) indicates in the philosophy statement that the role of career development events is to "motivate students and encourage leadership, personal growth, citizenship and career development." (p. 3)

High school agricultural education programs began including agricultural communications in its curriculum in the late 1990s, according to L. D. Tilley (personal communication, January 23, 2002), assistant state program administrator for agricultural education in Oklahoma. When there is an interest in a career area, the National FFA Organization develops an area of application for those skills taught in the classroom. The agricultural communications event was added in response to industry and high school student interest (L. D. Tilley, personal communication, January 23, 2002). The FFA added the agricultural communications career development event in 2000. One of 23 competitive CDEs, the agricultural communications CDE provides students the opportunity to compete in areas such as editing, news story writing, press release writing, radio broadcasting and graphics/photo editing (National FFA Organization, 2001).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of the agricultural communications career development event in Oklahoma. The paper focuses on the evaluation and subsequent evolution of the contest since its inception in 1999. The paper is designed to share obstacles, discuss strategies and ultimately provide an example for hosting an effective agricultural communications career development event.

Method

Time can be one of the constraints to conducting any career development event. While the National FFA's agricultural communications career development event can take place over more than one day during the association's convention, state-level events may not have that luxury. In Oklahoma, the CDEs are limited to one specific Saturday morning. Therefore, state-level coordinators may find it necessary to select specific portions of the national CDE to conduct rather than conducting all areas. The Oklahoma State University coordinators selected the editing exercise, communications quiz, and practicum as their qualifying competition. OSU chose to leave out the communications project proposal/presentation due to time constraints.

Preparing for the CDE
The easiest areas to prepare for are the communications quiz and the editing exercise. Quiz questions are written based on identified texts, including the Associated Press Style Manual and an agricultural communications CDE guidebook (originally written by faculty at Kansas State University and revised for use in other states). In the first year of the contest, Oklahoma FFA members had difficulty with the editing exercise, in some cases earning negative scores. To make this exercise easier to take and to score, faculty at OSU redesigned the editing exercise. Rather than looking at a news release to locate errors, students are directed to 25 selections in the text that they must identify as "correct" or "incorrect." When a selection is determined to be incorrect, the contestant must use appropriate editing marks and AP style to correct the error.

For the practicum, coordinators must first identify an agricultural issue to use as the news/press conference topic. Once the topic is selected, a speaker or source about the topic must be identified. At OSU, the press conference topic has focused on such areas as new product development (low-fat pecans) and critical issues (foot-and-mouth disease), and the speakers have been either on-campus scientists or commodity group representatives. When these areas are in place, coordinators prepare a press kit for the contestants. At a minimum the press kits should include background information on the speaker and the topic as well as some numerical information for the students competing as graphic designers. Specific assignment sheets are prepared for each practicum area. No new information is needed for the news and news release writers; however, a sheet with "soundbites"; should be prepared for the broadcasters to use in their story. In addition, the graphic design participants receive a sheet with approximately four photographs about the news topic.

Conducting the CDE
The timeline can vary, but the competition will last approximately two hours and twenty minutes. The contest superintendent and one or two other "officials" (this can be reliable undergraduate or graduate students) need to arrive at least one hour prior to the scheduled start time to register the FFA teams. An additional six or eight college students are needed to supervise the practicum preparation rooms. At least one judge, in this case a professional communicator, will be needed to critique (judge) the contestants' work from each practicum area. Because the contestants' work is ranked from best to worst, multiple judges in each practicum area are preferred; judges can be used for more than one practicum area, especially if the number of contestants is small. Judging the 45 contestants' materials (including their quizzes and editing exercises) takes about two to three hours.

Competition arrangements should include: 1) a large room for introductions and examinations, 2) at least one room for each practicum area, preferably computer labs for the news writers and news release writers, and 3) rooms for a scorekeeper and judges. Judging can be conducted in one room or multiple rooms as desired by the judges.

Cost of conducting the contest can be minimal. At OSU, the judges and students volunteer their time (although the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow has provided them with lunch for their assistance). Other costs include paper, photocopying, telephone calls, and an occasional miscellaneous expense.

Results

When OSU conducted its first agricultural communications CDE in 1999, 40 FFA members participated, including two three-member teams, seven four-member teams and six individuals. Participation increased to 45 FFA members in 2000 (11 four-member teams and one individual). In 2001, a total of 38 FFA members competed (eight four-member teams and six individuals). The steady participation is expected to continue in 2002.

One of the most important benefits of hosting this competition is that there is an opportunity to increase awareness among high school agricultural education students about career opportunities and skills needed in agricultural communications. In addition, the high school students can learn more about the hosting university and other potential majors while on campus during the event.

Conclusions

Departments/service units who host the agricultural communications CDE can benefit in a number of areas. By hosting the CDE, agricultural com munications professionals have the opportunity to give students hands-on experience on campus. Through the feedback they provide to students, pro fessionals are helping to foster the next generation of agricultural comm unications majors/professionals.

States conducting the agricultural communications CDE should also host a workshop for the state's agricultural education teachers to help them prepare students for the competition. The process of fostering students begins with nurturing the students in their efforts to prepare for the competition. It is vital that the agricultural education instructors have the resources and knowledge base to adequately prepare students for the competition.