The Banquet

It took a lot to convince my parents we had indeed made the Final Four (eh, five?). They thought for sure I was pulling their leg. Finally they believed me when they heard everyone in the background cheering and screaming. They were going to do their best to get to the Convention Center in time.

Meanwhile, our team had to get prepared. We were emotional and out of focus. To add to the pressure, they escorted us into the Final Four waiting room and we could feel the other four teams staring at us. We knew what they were thinking. What are they doing in here? Are they lost? Don't they know they didn't make the finals?

The officials had decided to make it a Final Five since it was their mistake. They announced to the room that they had messed up which only made it more awkward for the Missouri team. I can only imagine the other teams must have wondered who wasn't supposed to be there.

We had to focus and get ourselves back in the moment. This would be the biggest audience we had ever demonstrated in front of. Thanks to our siblings before us, we were aware that finals was in front of a couple thousand people. We circled up to pray and headed to the stage. (By the way, my parents and sister had made it just in the nick-of-time! They only opened doors in between demonstrations, and they got in after the first team finished.)

I think we could all tell in the middle of our demonstration, it was far from our best work. We made all of our motions without mistake, but our debates weren't as strong as usual. We made it through the end of round questions. I took one final look out into the audience, knowing it would be our last ever Parli demonstration. We turned and walked off stage one final time as a team.

Biddle met us in the hallway. We could see the look of pride in his eyes. He gave us the option of watching the other teams demonstrate or going to wander the convention center vendors. We were done and fate was out of our hands, so we elected to go have fun. (Plus the banquet to announce final placement was hours away!)

Finally banquet time arrived. All of the National Parliamentary Procedure teams got to attend the banquet. It was a fancy multi-course meal.

Three things I remember about the banquet:

1. The dessert was a delicious chocolate cake and there were fancy balls of butter in glass dishes on every table.
2. For the life of me, I have no idea why or how, but my best friend Emily got to attend the banquet with us. (She's the one I'm visiting for Spring Break.) She was a year younger, and knew she'd be on the Parli team come January. She was attending FFA Convention with others from our Chapter, but none of the others got to come to all of our demonstrations. None of our family members got to come to our banquet, but she did. I suppose, looking back, even Mr. Biddle was aware of how close Emily and I were, more sisters than friends. Regardless, it made my Nationals experience all the more special being able to share it with her.
3. Our table had a perfect view of the New Mexico team. Far enough away we could whisper and not be heard, but close enough we could see their faces.

Dinner was over and it was time for awards. First they give Silver and Gold ratings to the teams not in the Final Four. Next they awarded Outstanding Chairman and Outstanding Secretary. Lauren received Outstanding Secretary for her minutes during our demonstrations.

The moment we had been waiting for was here. The Final Five placements. We were all holding our breath, hoping and praying we didn't end in fifth. (The embarrassment!) 

Fifth Place? You guessed it! New Mexico. Whew. (To this day I wonder if they realized they were the mistaken finals team. I actually kind of feel bad for them.)

Fourth place... Oklahoma. Sigh of relief. (After being outcasted and stared at awkwardly in the finals waiting room, our goal was to not finish 5th or 4th. We wanted to make sure they knew we belonged.)

Third place... Eldon FFA Chapter from Missouri. 

We walked to the front of the banquet hall, received our plaques and individual pins, and got our picture taken. We were beaming. Our parents met us after the banquet to get pictures. They were proud, too.

Even though most of our parents were in Indianapolis, we all chose to ride the bus back to Eldon together Saturday evening. For one last Parli hoorah!

*For curious minds, Michigan finished 2nd and Arizona became Natinal Champions.