Chelan FFA traveled to Okanogan to compete in the District VII Ag Sales, Ag Issues Forum, Marketing Plan, and Job Interview Career Development Events.  Chelan joined members from Tonasket, Omak, Wenatchee, Eastmont, and Cashmere to compete for automatic berths into the State Leadership CDEs to be held in May. 

In the Job Interview CDE, members were required to prepare a resume and cover letter prior to the competition and these were judged upon arrival.  They then filled out a job application by hand and then went through a personal interview and composed and typed a follow up letter.  Apolinar Blanco earned the first place banner and will advance to state.  Lupe Villasenor brought home the third place banner and will go into the lottery drawing for at large berths to state.

In the Ag Sales CDE,  a four member team has to research a product line and then formulate a sales strategy as a team given a set of three different customers and five essential sales questions.  They were evaluated on their decision making, group dynamics, and presentation.  They then had to individually meet with one of the customer groups and sell them the appropriate products based on their wants and needs.  In addition, they took an objective test on the sales practices.  The team earned the third place banner and they were Apolinar Blanco who placed 5^th Individually,  Dillon Morrison who placed 10^th,  Jake Straub, and Javier Rivera.  They will now move into the lottery drawing for an at large bid at state. 

The Agricultural Issues Forum CDE requires teams to research a current issue in agriculture and present both sides of the issue in a 15 minute presentation followed by five minutes of questions.  The Chelan team chose the issue of Grazing as a land management tool discussing whether domestic livestock grazing can be used to prevent invasive plant species, improve habitat and watershed.  They earned a third place banner and are in the lottery for at large bids.  The team was Lupe Villasenor, Cory McClellan, Emmanuel Munoz, and Ian Cowell. 

The Marketing Plan CDE requires participants to select a local agribusiness that has been in operation that has been in business for less than five years and do a market analysis, SWOT analysis for the business and its competitors, and develop an action plan and pro-forma budget based on market research.  The team of Apolinar Blanco, Jake Straub, and Javier Rivera chose Irish Iron as their agribusiness and developed a Marketing Plan for the coming year.  They ended up fourth in the contest.