Parliamentary Procedure from a Different Angle

    For my service project for the Practical Parliamentary Procedure course, also known as AEE 216, I had the privilege to attend the National FFA Competition in Indianapolis, Indiana. At National Convention I served as a Collegiate Assistant for the National Parliamentary Procedure competition. This was a learning experience for me for many different reasons. The main reason being that I have had the opportunity to compete at the National Parliamentary Procedure competition for Greenwood FFA. Having experienced both aspects of the competition, I finally got to experience the nuts and bolts of how everything goes down. 

    My parliamentary procedure experiences all started sophomore year of high school when I was asked to compete on the Greenwood FFA team. This experience took a lot of time and learning to get to the level that we reached. Our team would meet early before school, so it was a very big time commitment for all of us who were on the team. Unfortunately, in high school I did not take it as seriously as I should have because I didn't understand the purpose or benefit in competing at a high level. When we started winning the smaller area and regional competitions we started to practice more and got better as time went on. Competitions were always my biggest fear and were very stressful. The main reason that they were so nerve racking was because we had to rely on each other to get all of our required debates, motions, and extra motions in without talking about any of it prior to the competition. We had been practicing so much that our level of trust for each other would continue to rise, but we were all very competitive, which made competing very stressful. Looking back on the experience I wish I would have taken more time to study and the opportunity more seriously. As a student I never knew the different tricks and flaws that came about in parliamentary procedure because I never understood the judging aspect of the competition. 

    When Dr. Foster reached out to our class with the opportunity to be a collegiate assistant, I jumped right on the opportunity. I thought that for my future students, this would be a great experience for me to learn more inside information about the competition as a whole. When we arrived in Indianapolis, we were joined by three students from the University of Idaho who were also serving as collegiate assistants. We were each given a specific job to do during the semi-final and final rounds. This was to ensure that the competition went smoothly and got done in a timely manner. My role during the semi-final round was to write down the judges feedback cards. These cards then went into packets that we prepared for each of the teams, so they know what they could have done better and what they did well. The judges would comment on their team effect, chair, presentation notes, and parliamentary errors that they made. For some of these errors we included a citation to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. There were two semifinal rooms, so there were four collegiate assistants who helped with judges feedback cards. There were four teams who made it into the final round who consisted of: California, Nebraska, Ohio, and Missouri. For this round there were only two assistants in charge of writing down judges feedback since there was only one room, so my job then was to be a host in the waiting room. From this experience I got to see many different team strategies and study habits happening. I enjoyed this part of the experience because I could relate to the students, since I had been in their shoes before.                                                                  

    This experience was one that I will never forget because it not only allowed me to experience a new aspect of parliamentary procedure, but also I could meet new and old FFA members and increase my network of people in my future profession. To the left you will see me pictured with past Pennsylvania FFA State Secretary, Jess Herr. This was taken at the Career Fair at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Jess was attending the convention as a state delegate where she attended many sessions with other past and present state officers to discuss delegate issues. Jess currently goes to Penn State, Berks Campus and will eventually come to University Park and be a member of my cohort. My Parliamentary Procedure Collegiate Assistant opportunity allowed me to meet up with old friends and future colleagues! Overall, this experience was one that I will never forget and has benefited me in so many ways. I hope to someday be able to use my parliamentary knowledge and network of professionals to engage the future leaders and implement parliamentary procedure into my classroom!

            Ella Brummer

Agricultural and Extension Education 2025

AEE 216

Student Service to Society