Martha Moenning competes at FFA Nationals after third state championship

 
To be able to say that you were the state champion in a FFA competition is something that not many people can say.
For Triton senior, Martha Moenning that is something that she can she has done three times.
In  her freshman year at Triton Martha competed in creed speaking where she was extremely successful, ultimately winning the state championship.
In her sophomore year she showed off her versatility by competing on a marketing planning team made up of herself, and fellow Triton students, Megan Koehler and Beyanna Reyann, where they went on to a first place finish in the FFA State Competition.
Last week she had the chance to compete at the National FFA  Championship in Indianapolis after accomplishing her third state championship in three years, winning the  extemporaneous speaking competition.
At the FFA Convention Martha represented Minnesota as the 47 person field competed in the very tough competition.
The way the competition works is that groups of six  are randomly chosen to compete against each other in the pool round of the competition with the goal of coming in the top 2 in order to advance to the semi-finals and from there they compete to make it to the final 4.
The concept of the competition is that you don’t know what the topic you will be speaking on is in advance and instead you pick three  upside down cards from the possible six cards.
From there you can pick the one you want to speak on.
For Martha she decided to pick the topic on how can people in the AG field promote AG through social media and specifically videos.
From there she had 30 minutes to prepare a speech which is required to be between four to six minutes long, followed by five minutes of answering judges questions.
The main judging factors for the competition are following the requirements, the confidence and substance of the speech along with how the presentation of the speech is.
Although Martha didn’t advance to the semi-final round she explained she felt confident in her performance noting that she faced some very tough competition including one competitor who came in second place in the competition.
 
FFA Experience
 
The journey of Martha becoming involved with FFA is a traditional one.
The youngest child of siblings who were in FFA along with her mother who was in it in high school she saw the importance of the program and how impactful it can be.
“I saw the positive difference it makes knew wanted to be apart of it,” she explained.
Ever since she became involved with the program she has been nothing short of successful both competitively and also through her leadership involvement at the chapter level, and the regional level.
Some of the leadership positions she has held at the chapter level includes being a Reporter, and Co President.
At the regional level she has served as a Reporter as well as a Vice President.
 
Continuing her passion
While her plans like many seniors aren’t set in stone yet she plans on studying at a community college down south where they are known for their  Agriculture Communications along with Meat Science programs.
She explained that aside from their strong academic programs they are also very well known for their  livestock evaluation teams that go to national judging programs something that she hopes to be apart of.
After getting her Associates Degree she then plans on getting her Bachelors Degree in AG Communications and Meat Science from Texas Tech.
No matter where she ends up in the AG world she knows one thing for sure and that is she will be on a path that best fits her interests and dreams.
“I know the path that I will be taking will be the best for my interests,” she said.