When she became a student at Wellsville-Middletown High School four years ago, Carly Henderson set a goal.

“I told myself in my freshman year that I’m going to write a speech before I graduate,” Henderson said.

The W-M senior wrote a speech on pork producers at a FFA district competition event on Nov. 15 at Monroe City High School. It helped her win a big trip to the Lake of the Ozarks.

Henderson placed first in the pork producers category at districts, qualifying her for state competition on Feb. 21 at the Margaritaville Lake Resort in Osage Beach.

“I was very excited because I didn’t think I would do that well,” Henderson said.

Henderson wrote a speech that talked about the impact and the importance of international pork markets. It was between six to eight pages long.

“I talked about my personal story and relayed it back to how I showcased it on a national level,” Henderson said. “I talked about my first time going to the World Pork Expo and relayed it back to how that’s been affected by the African Swine Fever and how that was a big global pandemic for hogs.”

Henderson has been going to the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, every year since 2018. Next year, she will be going to school at the Hawkeye State as she was accepted to attend Iowa State University in June.

Henderson placed first in Area 5 competition to qualify for districts. The senior performed her speech in both area and district competitions with a torn right ACL she suffered during the first week of basketball practice.

“I had to give it a wheelchair because at that point, I still wasn’t putting pressure completely on my leg,” Henderson said. “So they (the judges) appreciate that I was able to make up for it by having more hand movements, being more animated with my facial expressions and using more of my upper body to help present my speech as opposed to walking.”

Henderson joined senior Libby Kleinsorge and sophomore Maddi Poage at districts. Kleinsorge wrote her speech on the Missouri Young Farmers and Young Farm Wives category and Poage wrote hers on the Cooperatives category. But Kleinsorge and Poage didn’t advance out of districts.

Henderson said she’s looking forward to state competition in three months.

“If I could win state, that would be pretty awesome,” she said. “But I’m just excited that I get to go. That’s a pretty big opportunity for me.”

Henderson is president of the W-M FFA chapter. She heads an officer team that includes vice-president Kleinsorge, secretary Poage, treasurer Jenelle Boeckelman, reporter Kaleb Peak, sentinel AJ Sherwood and chaplain Meagan Cripe.

“We’re having a really great year,” Henderson said. “We’re actually staying pretty high in numbers for membership this year in FFA, which is super exciting. A lot of our members are being active and are actually coming to events, which is also super exciting. Our officer team works pretty well together, so I say we’re doing pretty good so far.”