Four Calamus-Wheatland FFA members prepare to present at the Iowa State Convention.
Last March, the Calamus-Wheatland Experience the Action Team (ETA) won first place at the Southeast District Convention and advanced to the Iowa State FFA Convention. The ETA Team had about a month to prepare to compete in April at the state convention in Ames, Iowa.
What is ETA? Chapters develop enthusiastic presentations to motivate students to enroll in agricultural education programs and become FFA members. Iowa is the only state that has ETA as a contest.
The team put together a “Monsters, Inc.” skit. Team members included sophomores Ellen Olson (Boo), Alice Nicklaus (Randall), Natalie Schroeder (Mike) and Aidan Yaddof (Sully). This unique theme was selected to appeal creatively to a younger audience. Throughout the skit, members brought to life three integral parts of FFA: growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture. The lighthearted skit was laced with jokes; members tried to scare each other, and it was full of energy. The core team incorporated five “audience” members dressed in matching raincoats who gasped, clapped and complemented the 15-minute ETA presentation.
To win the district, the team began brainstorming and practicing in November, four months before the event. Practices and preparation occurred two to four times a week, with at least five hours invested each week. Chapter members helped to create the “onesie” costumes. Watch below as the chapter learns that they won the district competition.
To prepare for state, members presented to alumni and the school board at John Deere’s headquarters in Moline, Ill., and about 60 students at Calamus-Wheatland Elementary. Each team member invested at least 40 hours in adding animation, watching the movie to gain character tips, improving the props used on stage, and rehearsing.
The ETA team ended up earning a silver at state.
Olson said, “ETA was very different from the other FFA contests I have done because our team had the freedom to pick what our theme and main message would be. ETA is about recruiting young students and getting them excited about FFA, so “Monsters, Inc.” made perfect sense and was kind of our hook for the whole presentation.”
“Boo” went on to say with a smile, “My favorite memory was presenting to the fifth- and sixth-grade students at the elementary. They smiled and laughed through the whole thing and had a lot of questions when we were done. Any other recruitment we do is more ‘serious’, so this was kind of a change for them and us, and I’m so glad I got to experience it.”
