As part of Ag in the City activities, an FFA state champion performed in front of his hometown Thursday night.

Chandler Jahner, a class of 2017 Pella High School graduate, showed off his skills in extemporaneous speaking on the Tulip Toren. He tells KNIA/KRLS News he was honored to speak in front of friends and family.

“That was really interesting and a lot of fun for me, being able to look out in the crowd,” Jahner says. “So often times when I’m performing at the district or state level, you look out in the crowd and you might notice one or two people, but tonight, it was something that was so much more relaxed, it was something where I was able to kind of knock the dust off a bit and be able to just enjoy the company of others and be able to showcase what I really enjoy doing.”

Jahner says extemporaneous speaking requires an ability to convey various ideas to the public and plenty of research.

“So much of this is being able to understand agriculture and have a general basis of just about everything, because you don’t know what you’re going to get thrown–the topics are completely random,” he says.

Jahner is preparing to compete at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this fall.