Competitive Events

Competitive events at the FEA Conference provide aspiring teachers opportunities to explore careers in education and demonstrate their knowledge, skills and leadership in the field. Competitive events fall into two categories: individual and chapter competitions.

Competitive events are open to high school students ONLY.

The FIU Office of Scholarships is proud to offer, once again, the FEA Gold and Blue Scholarship valued at $10,000 ($2,500 per year) to the first-place winners of the FEA individual competitions.

Registration for the 2020 FEA competitions is now OPEN and will close on October 30.

Registration for the FEA competitions is by invitation only. To enter, the sponsoring teacher must create a Group for the school/chapter on the Eventbrite registration site and register to attend the event. The link to access the Online Competition Entry Form is available on the Eventbrite Online Event page.

Read the General Competition Guidelines and the FEA Code of Conduct for Virtual Events for rules and more information.

Individual Competitions

Job Interview
The Job Interview Competition is an opportunity for FEA members to develop and practice their interview skills, as well as cover letter and résumé writing skills. In this competition, entrants apply for a position as a paraprofessional (position description can be found below). This includes submitting a cover letter explaining why the entrant is a good candidate for the position, as well as a résumé that details relevant work, volunteer, and educational experiences. The cover letter should complement – not duplicate – the entrant’s resume, explain the reasons for the entrant’s interest in the position and school, and identify his or her own most relevant skills or experiences. The letter should express a high level of interest and knowledge about the position.
Judges will review the cover letters and résumés and — just like any job application/interview process — candidates will be interviewed for a paraprofessional position. Interviews will be held during a Zoom video session at the FEA Regional Virtual Conference at FIU. The judges will act as the school district’s hiring committee and will ask questions of the job candidates one at a time. Since high school graduates are eligible to be employed as paraprofessionals in many districts, this competition offers an immediate opportunity for a real-world application of the work entailed in participation.
This is an individual competition. Only one entry per chapter will be considered. Each chapter must select one student to represent them. Twelve (12) entries total will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Job Interview competition.
Public Speaking
Self-composure, confidence, and the ability to clearly articulate and communicate information are valuable skills for all educators. The Public Speaking Competition is designed to highlight students who demonstrate these qualities by combining thoughtful preparation and confident delivery into an interesting presentation on a current education topic.
Students participating in this competition will compose and deliver a speech of approximately 400 to 600 words (three to five minutes when spoken aloud) on the assigned topic. Contestants will deliver the presentation during a Zoom video session on the day of the virtual conference.
This is an individual competition. Only one student entry per chapter will be considered. Each chapter must select one student to represent them. Twelve (12) entries total will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Public Speaking competition
Spotlight on Education
This competition offers students the opportunity to shadow and learn from highly skilled educators whose work takes place outside the core subjects. The purpose of this competition is to promote the impact that these instructional-support professionals play in the lives of students. Instructional-support specialists include but are not limited to:
- Special Education Teacher
- Speech Pathologist
- School Psychologist
- Occupational Therapist
- School Administrator
- School Counselor
- School Social Worker
- Librarian
- Non-core Subject Teacher
- Curriculum Specialist
Students will select one specialized instructional-support specialist and will shadow (if possible) and interview them. Students will receive permission from the professional to job shadow them for a total of two hours. The two hours are not expected to be consecutive; rather they are accumulated over a period of several days or weeks and occur when the professional is actively engaged in their work.
Contestants will complete and submit the following two career-exploration documents by the given deadline:
- Host educator’s verification form
- Interview form
Students participating in this competition will create a slide deck or PowerPoint presentation that includes research on the profession and their experience during the job shadow and interview. Students will deliver their presentations live during a Zoom video session on the day of the virtual event. The presentation should not exceed 5 minutes.
This is an individual competition. Only two entries per chapter will be considered. Each chapter must select one or two students to represent them. Sixteen (16) entries total will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Spotlight on Education Competition

This is an individual competition. The purpose of this competition is to promote original creative writing and illustration, to develop presentation skills and to focus on the importance of using informative/explanatory writing to increase the understanding of the reader about a certain topic.

Students participating in this competition will create a digital informational book about a science or social studies topic designed for a K – 5 grade audience (ages 5-11). Some suggested topics are:

SCIENCE	SOCIAL STUDIES
Plants and Plant Growth	Geography of Asia
Animals and their Needs	Geography of Africa
The Human Body	Geography of North America
Seasons and Weather	Geography of Europe
Taking Care of the Earth	Geography of Antarctica
Earth	Geography of Australia
Living Things and their Environment	Geography of South America
Habitats	Geography of Continental United States
Oceans and Underwater Life	Geography of Alaska
Environmental Change and Habitat Destruction	Geography of Hawaii
Matter	Native Americans, Past and Present
Electricity	Early Exploration
Life Cycles	Symbols and Figures of Democracy
Water Cycle
Insects
Magnetism

The story (script) and multimedia elements (illustrations, sound clips, and videos) used for the digital book should be original work and not copied from any books or from the Internet.

This is an individual competition. Only two entries per chapter will be considered. Each chapter must select one or two students to represent them. Twenty-four (24) entries total will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Twelve (12) entries will be selected for a book read aloud during a Zoom session on the day of the event.

Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Writing Creative Non-Fiction competition.

Leadership in Education Essay
This is an individual competition. The purpose of the Essay Competition is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking and creative writing skills, as well as to explore teacher leadership and the wide range of roles teachers assume to support school and student success. Students will use research and their own experience to develop an argumentative essay that is well-reasoned and articulates their points about a given topic.
This is an individual competition. Only two student entries per chapter will be considered. Each chapter must select one or two students to represent them. Twenty-four (24) entries total will be accepted for this competition. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Leadership in Education Essay competition

Chapter Competitions

Ethical Dilemma
This is a chapter competition. In this competition, the chapter must debate an ethical education-related dilemma. This competition requires members to think deeply about an ethical issue, employ critical-thinking skills, and use persuasive communication techniques to collaboratively debate an ethical dilemma.
To participate, each member of the chapter must first thoroughly consider the ethical issue and begin to form an individual position on the topic. Then the chapter members must debate the topic together, listening carefully to each other’s opinions. Through the discussion, the chapter members must come to a consensus on the topic and then prepare a ten-minute presentation stating their chapter’s view.
The chapter must work as a team to develop the presentation and then select at least four and no more than eight students from the chapter to present the chapter’s opinion and how it was reached to a panel of judges. The presentations will be delivered live via Zoom on the day of the virtual event.
Each chapter must submit only one entry for this competition. Five (5) entries total will be accepted. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and will be limited to the number of participants.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Ethical Dilemma competition
Researching Learning Challenges
This is a chapter competition. In this competition, the chapter will explore deeply one of the disabilities identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and develop recommendations regarding effective educational supports for students with the disability. The competition guidelines will specify the disability on which this year’s competition will focus.
Students are encouraged to embark on the research using traditional sources as well as primary sources (ex. conducting interviews with individuals impacted by this disability or professionals who support individuals with this disability, etc.). Then team members should discuss the research in order to determine recommendations for their presentation. The chapter must work as a team to develop an 8-10-minute, research-supported presentation and then select at least two and no more than four students from the chapter to present the research and best practices. The presentations will be delivered live via Zoom on the day of the virtual event.
Each chapter must submit only one entry for this competition. Five (5) entries total will be accepted. Entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and will be limited to the number of participants.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Researching Learning Challenges competition
Chapter Display
This is a chapter competition. Students will develop a video that features the chapter’s mission and activities. The video is intended to highlight the chapter and school. Entries should also incorporate the conference theme, “Ride the Wave to Success and Teach.” The video must be submitted via a downloadable link. Submissions will be featured during one of the breakout sessions on the day of the FEA Regional Virtual Conference at FIU.
All high school chapters attending the conference are eligible to participate. Each chapter must submit only one video.
Click here to download the guidelines for the 2020 Chapter Display competition

IMPORTANT!

Registration for all competitive events must be completed by the FEA sponsoring teacher.
Competitors' names and email addresses are required to complete the online registration form.
All competitors must be registered to attend the conference on the Eventbrite website. Competitors that are not registered on Eventbrite will be disqualified.
The number of entries is capped for the individual and chapter events (please refer to the individual and chapter competition guidelines to view the number of entries allowed per chapter for each competition).
Competition entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and will be limited to the total number of participants indicated in the guidelines.
In order to allow more chapters to register for the group competitions, entries will be accepted for either the Ethical Dilemma competition or the Researching Learning Challenges competition.
Competitors must arrive to their respective competition Zoom room at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning of their assigned time. If competitors miss their assigned time slot, they will not have an opportunity to present their entry to the competition.
Individual competitors can register for one (1) competition only. Individual competitors registered in the Leadership in Education Essay Competition are exempt from this rule and can register for another competition.
Participation in the Chapter Display Competition is highly encouraged! This is a great opportunity to highlight your FEA chapter and your school!

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Competitive Events

Individual Competitions

Chapter Competitions