This past weekend we attended the 3rd Quarter Texas State Convention of 2009, F.O.Y.T. (Five Outstanding Young Texans), hosted by the Sugar Land Jaycees.
First off, congratulations to all of the 1st Place Competition Winners who will be going ONTO Orlanda, Florida (National Convention):
Master Speak-Up: Jonathan Fong of the Sugar Land Jaycees
Speak-Up: Kim Booth of the Tyler Jaycees
Write-Up: Kim Booth of the Tyler Jaycees
Jeapordy: Jonathan Fong of the Sugar Land Jaycees
Debate: Patty Rivers (Tyler), Kim Booth (Tyler), and Phuong Tran (Houston Asian)
Congratulations to the Houston Asian Jaycees for 1st Place this Quarter in the Parade of Chapters
Video is at the end of this post
The convention was a lot of fun! Conventions typically span from Friday evening through Sunday morning.
Friday evening is…
check-in, find your hotel room, grab some food, and hang out. There are typically multiple hospitality rooms where you can go visit, meet Jaycees from other cities/chapters, enjoy some drinks and snacks, and have a great time. There is also a game we play called “First-Timers”. This is exactally what it sounds like, all Jaycees who this is there first time at this particular convention can participate. You are given a packet with Jaycee position titles, such as “Texas Past Presidents”, “Local Chapter Officers”, etc. The objective is to find as many Jaycees who hold these titles, and get them to sign there name. This is a great ice breaker for meeting new Jaycees. On Sunday, when the awards are given out, the Jaycee who has the most number of names on their packet, wins a prize.
Saturday we had…
Training…
If you want to feel motivated, energized, and learn a lot of great things from experienced Jaycees, this was the place to be this weekend.
Lewis Timberlake, a really fantastic individual. Mr. Timberlake gave a great motivational presentation on looking at yourself and figuring out if you are where you want to be in life, and if not, how to get there. Mr. Timberlake has been a Jaycee for many years. He was initially a sales person who now does motivational speaking presentations for large corporations and the Jaycees.
NVP Chrystal Ramsay, she is a National Vice President who oversees Texas and other states in her region of the US. She gave a great question and answer session on “How to make your chapter more successful”. She answered questions on membership, marketing, etc.
Competitions…
Chapters from all over Texas come to see who can bring home the Gold. The competitions are Speak-Up, Master Speak-Up, Write-Up, Jeopardy, and Debate. Congratulations to all of the award winners! You all did a great job and encourage you to keep competing as you will only get better!
Speak-Up is impromptu speaking. You are first given a topic weeks ahead of time which you can prepare and memorize. You then go in front of the room and give your speech. The second time around, you are given your topic at the door, and have roughly 15 seconds to think of your speech before speaking to the crowd. This is a great way to practice public speaking, quick thinking, improving on your creativity, over-coming shyness, etc.
Write-Up is where you are given a topic, and you have 30 minutes to write about it. This competition is graded upon your ability to write, grammar, spelling, creativity, etc.
Jeopardy is answering questions about the Jaycees from its start to current. If you love knowing every detail about the Jaycees, this is the perfect competition for you.
Debate is two teams battling it out to see who can provide enough persuasive evidence that their stance on a topic is the one that is right. There are 2 teams, 3 people to a team. You are given a topic, a coin is flipped to see if your team is pro or con, and you battle it out. One team member gives the opening, the second provides their argument, and the third is the closer.
F.O.Y.T. …
Later in the evening we had out awards celebration to honor our “Five Outstanding Young Texans”. It was a great time had by all, music, food, dancing, and candy (we were in Sugar Land). What is really special about this part of the convention is learning about these five recipients, a bit about who they are, and why they are receiving this award. These people are pretty amazing and it is a great motivator to make you want to get out and get your hands dirty.
Sunday we had…
Awards and Closing Ceremony…
Part of the Jaycees State Convention is to honor and congratulate the different chapters across Texas for their achivements and hard work. Chapters can receive awards on several areas, a few being “Parade of Chapters”, “Chapter Project for the Quarter”, and “Chapter with the most New Members”. Congratulations to all of the chapters who took home awards, you did great,worked hard, and you deserve it!
In case you dont know, Parade of Chapters is a checklist system, where when a chapter meets a requirement, say goes to visit another chapter. A chapter visitation is equal to 10 points let’s say. The same chapter participates in a state-wide project and earns 20 points. These points are added up, and compared to other chapters at the end of each quarter. The top three chapters are honored and awarded at state convention. All chapters should really participate in this arena, for one main reason, it is a great way to keep your chapter well rounded. Look at your chapters Parade of Chapters packet and you will get an idea of what I mean by well rounded.
In closing, this convention was a lot of fun! Thank you again to all of the chapters who attended, always great to see friends and make new ones. Thank you Sugar Land Jaycees for putting on a great event!
On behalf of the Texas Jaycees, we would like to thank you for coming. We encourage, invite you, and look forward to seeing all chapter at the next state convention. Details for this will be announced soon!
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