Camden High School -

On Saturday, February 7th, five members of the Camden FFA Chapters competed in the 2026 New York State FFA Leadership Development Event for District 5. This year’s event was held at Cazenovia High School.

Leadership Development Events are FFA-sponsored competitions held each year. They are designed to build knowledge about agriculture careers, develop self-sufficiency and leadership skills, and help students hone their presentation skills. Students compete in a variety of categories, and Camden’s contingent spent about three months getting ready for their respective disciplines.

Sophomore Kayla Winn and eighth grade student Katherine Dean led the way for Camden with tremendous performances in the FFA Creed Speaking competition, and will represent Camden and District 5 at the upcoming Sub-State LDE to be held on the weekend of March 14th.

In the Creed Speaking competition, participants have four minutes to recite the FFA Creed, a five-paragraph values statement that helps to govern the organization. Participants are adjudicated very closely on their memorization and delivery. Once the recitation portion is complete, competitors also answer a series of critical thinking questions from the judges.

Sophomore Mary Hall competed in the Prepared Public Speaking event, which consists of a six-to-eight minute speech, a manuscript submission, and a question and answer session.

Ninth grade student Amelia Nobis was a participant in the Employment Skills event. This event is a simulation of a real-life job search, with students required to complete a cover letter, resume’, application, and multiple rounds of interviews for a job of interest in the agriculture field.

Ninth grade student Kiersten Hall contested the Senior People in Agriculture event, which consists of a manuscript and multimedia presentation about a particular agriculture career. The typed summary must be between 2-4 pages, and the presentation is between six and eight minutes. A question and answer period of up to five minutes follows.