Over winter break, Delta High School’s FFA Parliamentary Procedure team participated in the regional competition held at Cedaredge High School. The team’s hard work paid off with a solid win against Fruita and Cedaredge FFA Chapters. Parliamentary Procedure, or Robert’s Rules of Order, is the proper procedure to  Parli-Pro competitions consisting of a written test as well as a demonstration. This year’s Prali-Pro team consists of: Chairman-Joslyn Carpenter, Secretary-Pearl Burress, First Chair-Wyatt Kendall, Second Chair- Baili Hulet, Third Chair- Rebecca Boozell, and Fourth Chair- Billy Finn.

The competition consists of a written test and a Demonstration. These demonstrations are how teams present their knowledge of Rober’s Rules of Order. During the demonstration, all team members must have four debates and make two motions to get full points. Billy Finn, a member of Delta’s Parli-Pro team, said “We might want to work on the way we transact motions to correct the ones we did incorrectly.” 

“I feel like we have a really good chance with how smooth our presentation was during this competition. If we keep up that momentum and keep reinforcing what we know, maybe doing some more debate work, I feel like we have a really good shot at winning at State.” He continued, “We’re going to need to be able to come up with really good debates on the fly.” Speed is the name of the game when in competition and having good debates come together quickly is a must.

The written portion of the contest requires every team member to take a test before the demonstration that adds overall average points. The written test consists of in depth questions about motions, rules and voting, such as if a motion requires a ⅔ vote or just majority to pass. Cheyanna Hope, a student teacher in the Ag. Department at DHS and one of the six judges for the competition, said “Something that you [Delta FFA] could improve on as a team is working on your ability to understand order for Parliamentary Procedure so if you have a special motion, you will know how to handle it.” She went on to say, “I think there’s a chance for the team  to win if you really focus on studying, practicing, and staying diligent.”

The State competition will be held sometime at the beginning of June but the exact date has not been set. Kendal Butterfield, the FFA advisor at DHS, had this to say after watching the demonstration: “I think we need to practice all together because we’ve practiced a lot with only four or five team members because of schedules. Getting the whole team together they can learn how other teammates operate in the type of debates they make,” Butterfeild said. “I think we do have as much opportunity as any other team and you  guys are very smart and all love Parli-Pro and your effort shows it.” 

If Delta FFA wins at the state level, they will be headed to Nationals this summer. The team has set some high goals for themselves and plans on continuing to work hard to achieve those goals and become the best of the best.