Lessons Learned From Failed Dream #2: Not Parli Champs

"I now declare this meeting adjourned. Members, please prepare for questioning." [insert gavel taps]Hearing Mr. Chairman say those words after state finals round for Parliamentary Procedure was a relief. We made it.  We killed it. For one of the few times, I could smile after a demonstration knowing that we just brought up the best points about a fictitious Facebook page we would create for the chapter and for being thankful that the other members followed my lead when I said our current page was closed to members and we needed to open it to alumni. As crazy as it was, it worked. And seeing Mr. Biddle smile afterwards (let's be real, Biddle never smiles) was the best sign that we did good, folks.The rest of that day was an endless ball of nerves. Literally sick to my stomach nerves. People would watch other teams and comment back to us, good and bad, and just add to the butterflies mounting in our stomachs. Then, the whispers came...a team went over time. Anyone in the Parli arena knows that this is a major no-no and that seconds are points deducted. The hype of that situation and hearing of other teams got to my head...would we win? Could we do it? These teams have beat us before. We'll break the streak. Being the team to follow the National Champions had its ups and downs, but mostly it wasn't a fun experience. Comparison after comparison, we were told that we were a "crapshoot", that we would never work together as a team, and that we would be the one to end the historic Eldon parli streak. And this was all before state had even happened. I swear at times it felt like no one believed in us. "Losing" Area was a wake-up call that Tipton was going to be stiff competition (shoutout to you Tiptoners) and we needed to get our act together, but could we do it?Standing backstage Friday night at State Convention waiting for the onstage announcement was intense. The butterflies were back and I was trying to hold back the tears that would come, regardless of the outcome. Parli is like most LDE's in that we don't know our results ahead of time, you find out as they're announced onstage. Backstage was also quite weird -- some of my favorite  competitors, the Troy girls, didn't make it out of districts and I wanted to face off again after they beat us by 8 points on Knowledge freshman year. They were some of my best FFA friends and it was weird not to experience something I had dreamed about since my first year in FFA with them not as our competition. We were also missing one of our teammates and I wish he could've been there to experience this madness. They lined us up backstage..Eldon, Tipton, Clopton on one side. Three stellar teams...but, both had beaten us before.(I'm literally getting butterflies writing this!!) As we walk onstage, we're put in the far left corner. The lucky corner. Looking out in the crowd, I spot last year's national-winning team mouthing "you're in the spot". The winner spot.  All I could think was that they had probably changed it up this year and tried not to get my hopes up prematurely.Going through the ranks of teams, it got down to the final 3 and we were still standing with Tipton and Clopton, eyes closed and praying for a win. Final two, Tipton and Eldon. Holy COW, is this happening. As I'm shaking, holding back tears, they announced "And your Parliamentary Procedure State Champions are...Eldon" [Insert fist bumps and happy tears.]Holy actual heck. I will never forget that day or that moment of what it was like to win Parliamentary Procedure on that day with those people with Mr. Biddle. Backstage was so many tears, folks. Still shaking (I don't know why?), I was humbled that we were the ones going to Nationals. Very few believed in us, but we did it. So, let's get to the point of this post. Like I said before, people said it was a "crapshoot" for us to win and that didn't change much going into Nationals. People still said things, but that only added fuel to the fire. That big gavel, the prize to the national-winning team, glared and seemingly said I should stay here for one more year. Knowing that we were likely Biddle's last time to go to State/Nationals really motivated me to desire to win it all: for him, for us, for the people who told us we shouldn't even try.Preparing for Nationals was a different story and I won't get into too many details; it's over now. But, I had a scheduling conflict that tugged and pulled at my heart for months. The only class the others could make work was 1st Hour and that was Band (one of my favorite classes) and I was recently selected as one of the senior Drum Majors. I got unsolicited suggestions from everybody and their mother...they wanted me to quit band, they wanted me to resign from being Drum Major, they wanted me to take two hours of Ag classes just to study, they wanted me to quit the Parli team and let our alternate take my spot, they wanted me to choose. Let me tell you something. Looking back, it happened the way it did for a reason and I am SO happy with the outcome. In the moment, it was terrible. Between tears and team arguments, I felt like my whole team hated me for not giving up something I loved and that I was letting them, Mr. Biddle, our entire chapter, and the state down. I've never had so many people say as many mean and unwarranted things in my entire life; it was a rough time. Ultimately, we came to a compromise and I would forego band on Mondays and instead join the Parli team, then I would increase as time got closer to Nationals. It was the best I could do and to this day, I stuck to my guns and I'm glad I did. In all honesty, having me in a class five days a week wouldn't have changed the outcome and I'm at peace with that.Months of this go by, and I've read Robert's Rules of Order back and forth too many times. (Robert and I are good friends at this point!) I wanted to make sure that I was making up for not being in the class with them, that I wasn't the weak link. I wanted the high test score and I wanted my minutes to be crazy good; those were my goals. One of the judges stopped Garrett and I after the minutes and told us how good they were (score!) and I walked away with the highest test score of the team and as an accredited parliamentarian.Nationals was an exhilarating experience, to say the least. The test was hard. The demonstration was easy. Walking out of the presentation room, we felt SO good. And that's why it was so hard to get the results that we hadn't made it out of our preliminary room. How? Our demo was great, we felt. We later learned that we had the second highest demo in the room and we would've made it out on that alone -- but our test scores were comparatively low, to say the least.That was awful. We wanted nothing more but to make it out of prelims. I think I realized then more than ever how much of a team we really were, despite the arguments, disagreements, and drama that had occurred over the last few months of prep. It sucked, but you can either look at the bright side or look at the perceived failure. Those of us who stayed around for the rest of convention got some high-quality time with Mr. Biddle. We got to go to a fancy banquet without worry of how we placed. We competed at the national level despite being a couple of "crapshoots thrown together". Tristen made it to the football game and I got to know Garrett the human (haha). I got to go to the career show for the first time in my FFA career. I got to watch Parli finals and I only cried a little! ;)Watching finals with Garrett and Biddle gave me such peace. We could've handled the motions. We could've answered those questions. We were prepared. Knowing that if we made it to that position we would've survived made all the difference. Test scores are everything and ours wasn't competitive enough and that's that. Even if we would've made it out of prelims, the likelihood of us continuing onward was slim and I think that would've been much worse to handle. Sure, I would've loved to demo ONE MORE TIME and I'd give anything for one more team argument. I would've loved to get to do the team practicum after that next round, but the cards were not in our favor this year. Looking at the final 4, I see what the judges saw and why those teams were picked. It's a weird thing being on the other side.

At the end of the day... you win some, you lose some. But it all works out in the end. Sure, our names aren't plastered in newspapers and publications, our picture isn't on a sign welcoming you to Eldon, we didn't get any money out of the gig, and we went home as a Silver-Emblem National Team instead of a Final 4 finisher. No one can take away the fact that in the Super Bowl of CDEs we were State Champions and we placed in the top twenty. 

I would never change my experience with Parli. I grew more in that year than I probably ever have. I'm confident that parliamentary procedure directly contributed to my later state/national wins in DECA, FBLA, and FFA. Running through motions of activities and thinking through all of the variables and details made me a better officer, a better event planner, and a more thorough person. The contest itself taught me to think for myself, to have thick skin, and to never sacrifice my values. And I think that's the whole point Mr. Biddle had tried to make from the very beginning. It's not about if you win or if you lose, it's about what you get from the experience. (As cliche as it sounds) Sure, it would've been nice to have that big gavel, a national champion pin for my jacket, and recognition for our hard work and late nights. But it was just as nice to place in the Top 20 among some crazy-good teams. Parli was something I had wanted to do since 7th grade seeing the then National Champions argue about gum in schools. Getting to work with Mr.Biddle and make our dreams come true was something  I'll never forget.To anyone considering parli, do it. And put your best effort forward. You can complain about who your advisor-coach is, you can complain about your team, you can complain about whatever the heck you find necessary but at the end of the day, you are the one standing on that stage or in that room waiting for the results of your performance. It's not about what people say about you or how many people doubt you and your team, or even how much you like the other people on your team - it is about that one performance that determines if you go on or not. Don't have any regrets in your preparation and it'll all be worthwhile at the end.From one parli champ to another,Holly