SDSU Little International is the largest student run livestock exposition in the nation that is executed by a staff of over 150 college students. Little “I”, as it is often called, is a two-day event composed of two major pieces: judging contests and livestock shows. The livestock shows involve SDSU college students, both experienced and non-experienced students, showing an either a sheep, goat, pig, beef heifer or bull, dairy cow or horse in both fitting and showmanship shows. Each specie has novice and experienced categories so that students with no experience and students with years of experience can compete with others who have similar experience levels as themselves. The judging portion of Little “I” is composed of contests that high school students and college students may compete in. These contests include livestock judging, floriculture, farm Business Management, and 11 other contests with are very similar to FFA CDEs. In 2022, we had 1,600 high school students compete in 14 different contests. At the 99th Little "I", I had the privilege of being on the executive committee with 16 other talented individuals. My position as the Judging Coordinator involved working with 14 contest superintendents and their assistants to ensure that each committee had a space to hold their contest, that materials were completed and printed in time, and most importantly, I helped ensure that each and every contest ran smoothly. I was also in charge of school registrations, so I worked with the university to create the registration form and with FFA advisors to ensure they completed registration correctly.

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I had the privilege of holding this position again for the 100th Little International. For the centennial celebration the executive committee decided to add two new contests bringing the total to 16 FFA CDE contests that I oversaw with the help of an assistant. In excitement for the 100th Little "I" we had over 2,500 high school students register for the contest, but due to unexpected weather, were unable to hosts any of the contests. After putting in months of work, it was difficult to make that call with my executive team. But safety is and also has been our number one priority and we didn't want any to risk driving on uncertain roads to get to our event. However, we still wanted to have an opportunity for our collegiate participants to compete in the contests. So the morning of the event, my assistant and I devised a plan to create smaller scale versions of 12 contests to be held that afternoon. We coordinated with the committees to utilize materials they already had, oversaw the execution of these contests and worked with the public relations team to publicize our new plan. 

 

I had to work with many people on different teams to ensure the contests were successful. Not only did I have to work with the committees, but I also had to make sure that I was communicating with the rest of the Executive Committee about what I was doing and how the judging contests were progressing. This was one of the most important leadership position I had ever held as I was coordinating efforts with many people and had to be both a leader for the judging committees and an effective team member on the executive committee. The successful execution of the 99th Little "I" and overcoming adversity at the 100th Little "I" will be some of my greatest accomplishments and proudest moment during my time at South Dakota State University.

 

A big thing I learned during this experience was that everyone works in different ways. It was important for me to understand the person or people I was working with and to lead them in a way that works for them. It’s important to make sure that as a leader you conform your leadership to fit the members of your team. Not everyone works the same and not everyone is motivated the same so I had to make sure I was motivating everyone on the team the way they needed me to. I also learned the importance of building trust with your followers as well. The committees I was working with needed to know that they could trust that I would carry my weight and get my projects done as well. I was able to build this trust by progressively proving that I was capable of the tasks given to me by completing them properly and in a timely manner. 

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