By Victoria Guerrero

Warning: If you’re one of the many people in America that hate public speaking, Leadership Development Events are not for the faint of heart.

On Dec. 3 and 4, the FFA chapter competed at Sam Houston State University.

Senior creed speaker Junelyn Gamao memorized the FFA’s 250 word creed then recited it, being judged on poise and delivery. Gamao was ranked in the top 20 out of 679 competitors.

“It was a big accomplishment,” instructor Melvin Pouncy said.

The junior skills team, consisting of freshmen Britten Burchardt, Clarissa Robles, Charlie Sokolov and Josh Doria, was ranked fifth in the state. In the junior skills event a team is given 20 minutes to present a skill they received beforehand.

“I think we could have done better,” Doria said. “But it’s fifth in state.”

All this doesn’t come easily. The LDE teams have been practicing for nearly four months.

“We pretty much practice every morning at 8:10,” instructor Michael Wallace said.