Preparing Your

Proficiency Award
Application for Nationals
Jill Sperling
State Proficiency Award Program Coordinator
Spring 2019
General Guidelines
• Answer questions as they relate ONLY to award area
• Use ALL space given to tell the story.
• Be specific, direct and to the point. Answer the question and only
the question.
• Refer to the National FFA website for proficiency award resources:
– Sample applications
– Scorecards & rubrics
– Agriscience Research handbook
General Guidelines
• Don’t assume judges know something. You have to assume reader
knows NOTHING about the type of SAE the application covers.
Explain everything. No acronyms!
• Only include information on the application up to December 31 of
the previous year.
– For apps submitted in January 2019, the financial data will end on
December 31, 2018. All other information included on the app must
also stop on December 31, 2018. No references to 2019 anywhere on the
application (it will be disqualified)!!!
• Proof read!!!! Check spelling & grammar. . . . multiple times.
• Fill up spaces. Don’t leave blank space.
Basic Setup
• For combination SAE (includes both entrepreneurship AND
placement) – move the bar to determine the % of project that is
entrepreneurship and the % that is placement.
– If SAE is 100% entrepreneurship, drag bar all the way to the left.
– If SAE is 100% placement, drag bar all the way to the right.
– Manipulate bar to get the appropriate percentages.
• Select appropriate pathway that SAE fits under
Performance Review A-1 and A-2
1) Briefly explain your SAE and how it relates to this award area.
• My SAE consists of _________________________________. It relates to this award
area because _ _________________________________________________.
• Explain any unusual circumstances (i.e. labor exchange, partnerships, etc.). State that
the hours and finances reflect ony your share of the partnership, state that the hours
in the app only reflect those that apply to the proficiency area, etc.
• Did any particular person, situation or event create your interest in starting this SAE?

2) Briefly explain how your roles, responsibilities and/or management

decisions related to this award area have changed.
• Student needs to show growth here. There should be increased roles, responsibilities,
etc. over the course of the project.
• How have you increased your knowledge and skill related to the area?
Performance Review A-3
3) Briefly explain what is the single greatest challenge you faced in this
award area AND how did you overcome that challenge.
• The response should demonstrate a complete explanation of the challenge and steps
taken to address the challenge.
• The response should demonstrate the student’s complete involvement in addressing
the challenge.
• Don’t use time management. Most overused answer.
• Think of bigger issues; something different/unique
• Example: Transportation to get to work; overcame by earning money and buying a
used car
• Use this format:
– CHALLENGE:
– RESOLUTION:
Performance Review B
Briefly explain your 3 greatest accomplishments.
• Responses should clearly identify 3 accomplishments related to award
area. Clearly state why those accomplishments have significantly
impacted the growth/success of the project.
• Not big, overarching ideas . . . These should be specific.
– Don’t use responsibility, time management, work ethic, communication, etc.

• Diversify! Don’t use 3 major awards won, 3 skills learned, etc.

– As an entrepreneur, have you increased or expanded your enterprise?
– As an employee, how have you impacted the success of the company or your growth as
an employee?
Performance Review C
Identify 3 experiences from your SAE in this award area and explain how
they will impact your future.
• These should be bigger, more overarching ideas.
– Placement Ideas: you had an opportunity to job shadow your employer, to advance in your future
career
– Entrepreneurship Ideas: you had an opportunity to visit with a banker to receive information on
financial gains
– Research Ideas: you had an opportunity to present my research to college researchers that
prompted a position as an undergrad researcher.
SAE -- Placement
• LIST out Job Titles & Responsibilities
• Use space to tell the story
• Should show growth and diversification each year!
• Example:
Assistant Flock Manager, Heuvel Club Lambs – daily feeding of 65
head of sheep, treated common diseases, sheared, trimmed hooves,
vaccinated, assisted with lambing, bottle-fed lambs, docked tails,
castrated
• Make sure number of hours worked makes sense for typical student
(watch school days vs. weekends/summers/holidays)
SAE -- Entrepreneurship
• Size/Scope
– Should show growth and diversification each year!
• Description
– Use space to tell the story
• Make sure that student has APPROPRIATE INVENTORY.
They need to show both current/operating and non-
current/capital inventory to be competitive
Efficiency Factors (entrepreneurship)
• For entrepreneurship SAEs, focus on EFFICIENCIES that
improve your project.
– Efficiency factors are accepted industry measurements that
you can use to assess the effectiveness of your enterprise
– Efficiency factors must be measurable. They are represented
by specific numbers. Calculate the efficiency factor and
place the # in this area. Label all numbers.
• Describe how the efficiency factor impacted the
management decisions or performance objectives.
Learning Outcomes (placement)
• For placement SAEs, focus on OUTCOMES and how your
skill attainment/learning has changed.
• Learning outcomes illustrate growth of attaining skills or
knowledge from your SAE experience
• Levels – these must be measurable; use specific numbers
– Examples: lambing %, death loss, number of machines
serviced, number of customers, etc.
Skills, Competencies, Knowledge
• 5 WITHIN the pathway SAE fits under
• 5 OUTSIDE of that pathway (use other pathways to show
diversity)
• Must fill all 10 spaces
• Select them from drop down menu.
• State the skill, competency, or knowledge gained and its
specific contribution to the success of your SAE
Resume
• You must use the electronic template resume included in the
application.
• Cannot show the present year (2019) anywhere on the resume
or the score automatically becomes a zero.
• List activities from most recent (2018) to oldest.
• Use bulleted format . . . No paragraphs.
• All resume components must be present and provide relevant
information to support the growth and overall achievement of
the student.
• 3 references included – no more than 1 FFA Advisor
Photos
• 6 good quality, clear digital photos of SAE
• Take photos in LANDSCAPE format otherwise the photo won’t fill the
page properly when uploaded
• Student must be in EVERY photo; face must be seen; show action not
posing
• Take pics throughout duration of project; taking 6 photos on one day in a
“photo session” manner looks dumb
• For livestock proficiencies – use only 1 fair/show photo
• Student should be dressed appropriate to the activity shown in photo
– They wouldn’t be vaccinating sheep in their FFA uniform.
– Student working with machinery should have on protective gear.
Photo Captions
• Photos & captions add value to the application
• Capture major skills developed
• Use space to tell the story
• Example: If the photo shows student vaccinating a
newborn lamb, then have them explain the importance of
vaccinating for a specific disease at a specific time in a
specific location of the animal’s body
• Don’t use “this is me . . .” or “here I am . . . “
Instructor or Employer Letters
• Should be printed on letterhead
• Must be signed (changing font to a “handwritten”
version is NOT ok)
• Keep letter to one page in length. It has to be direct and
say positive things about the student’s SAE.
• Content needs to be specific to the student’s experience
with his/her SAE
– DO NOT take a general letter that you have written for a
student and use that!
Personal Page
• Must be 8 ½ x 11 size sheet of paper, single-sided
• Use this space to add ADDITIONAL information on the SAE
that helps reader get a clear picture
– Don’t reprint photos already used on photo pages
– Don’t use generic pics that don’t relate to award area
– Don’t have student write narrative/letter/essay
• Ideas: Inventory lists, new photos showing different skills,
newspaper clippings, another letter of recommendation, “how
to” page addressing specific/unique skill related to SAE,
instructor’s statement (if you already used an employer’s
letter)
Final Thoughts . . .
• All proficiency applications must be revised and ready for
Mrs. Sperling to view by June 10th.
– If you get the app done before that, please email Sperling so
she can get a jump start on reviewing
• Make sure to click on “print application” tab and hit the
“generate PDF” button. This will save the most recent
version so that Sperling can view it.
• Please call or email with questions. : )