Practice makes perfect.
But the preparation looks way different starting months before, just for a measly 5 minutes shown.
The Willis local show is a perfect opportunity for experience before FFA members compete in major shows like Houston and Ft. Worth and the Montgomery County Show, but even before the local show, projects needs large amounts of preparation.
“As teachers, we start preparing for the show in July. As we progress through the early months of the school year, we have to seek and obtain sponsors, we have to order awards and find judges,” Ag teacher Amanda Traylor said. “We have to get the word out to our FFA and 4-H kids. Then we have to prepare our barn for incoming visitors and prepare our barn residents for others to come in. As for the kids, they prepare daily.”
But this large and exciting event needs more help to get it running as well.
“To prepare for the show itself it takes a village including the ag teacher, the Willis Ag booster club as well as the North Montgomery County Support Group,” Ag teacher Tanis Price said. “I help students prepare for the show by helping them clip and shave down their lambs and goats as well as work on showmanship in the ring.”
As the times of preparation and hard work occur throughout the days prior, leads to many awards being given.
“When I placed at the Willis local show it proved that all my hard work paid off,” sophomore Levi Risner said. “I Prepared by giving my cows a bath and brushing them and teaching them to walk.”
But it wasn’t just him that accomplished and was awarded for this hard work during the local show.
“It felt great to know my hard work was paying off and the dedication was giving good results,” junior Kaylee Corley said. “To prepare I washed 4 days every day to make sure they had the best appearance I could.”
The big success of the local show, provided great opportunities and favorite memories for everyone around.
“Favorite moment of the show is my 18th Willis Local Show. I have always been completely beside myself at the support our kiddos have from our community,” Traylor said. “My favorite moment at this year’s show was when the cattle and pig judge spoke over the mic about how our community supports our kids and our programs. Our judge was an ag teacher from another school, I did not realize that our community had a reputation for this (to others outside of our community), but he told them as much. He told them that he had heard and seen it firsthand over his years as an ag teacher and he thanked them for supporting our kiddos.”
The Ag teachers were able to see all these achievements happen and have more great moments as well.
“My favorite moment of the show was watching my first-year lamb and goat showman control the ring and show off their hard work,” Price said. “I also got to watch my almost three-year-old daughter show a goat and help her show a heifer for the first time. Overall nothing is better about our Willis Local show than seeing kids, families, and the community come together to support our Willis FFA and 4-H kiddos.”
In every case scenario, there is always room for improvement no matter how successful and well this local show occurred.
“Each year we take note of things that we could change to make the show run more smoothly, make it a better experience for the kids, or add/change different things,” Traylor said. “Over the years we have made some changes that the kids asked us to, like bringing in 2 judges for the various species, splitting the rings, adding in the showmanship clinics. This year, a group of students approached us about adding an “old timers” showmanship for next year, so we’ll be looking into that”
