The opening/closing ceremony is a tradition with deep roots because not only does it have an important presence in the classroom, it’s an integral part of FFA. Every September, Ag students across the school come together to learn a part and perform. While the majority of Ag students don’t participate beyond class competitions, many members of FFA travel to an annual convention to compete and showcase their skills in memorization and teamwork.
The opening/closing ceremony is an event put on by the FFA officers to start and finish every chapter meeting. There are six different parts: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Reporter, and Sentinel. Students enrolled in Ag classes at RHS put on their own version of opening/closing in class competitions and if they want they can compete against FFA students from schools across the state. According to Ms. Hyatt, “They did really well working together to get their parts memorized and in sync.”
This is Ms. Hyatt’s fifth year teaching Ag at Ripon High and she’s been involved in opening/closing ever since she was a student teacher. Ms. Hyatt loves running the ceremony because she loves to see her students compete in competitions. While learning opening/closing parts may be done for the sake of tradition, it is also done to help students develop important skills such as teamwork, composure, and confidence with public speaking.
At this year’s FFA opening/closing competition, a lot of students and teams won awards. For the open team section, which included sophomores through seniors, one team won third overall and Maddie Stewart landed 1st place for her role as vice president. For the officer team section, Dawson Donich won 1st for president, Maryn Brenner won 2nd for vice president, Jaycee Wilmshurst won 2nd for reporter, and Forest Fauchier won 2nd for treasurer. And on top of all that, the entire officer team landed 1st place overall due to their hard work and collaboration. It is safe to say that this year’s opening/closing competitions, both the contests inside and outside the classroom, were a great success.
