Pictured: Members of the UW-River Falls College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences won multiple team and individual awards recently at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Student Judging Contest in Modesto, Calif., April 12-15. Students also placed first in the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. UWRF photo.
Coryn Davidson and her three teammates on the UW-River Falls Ag Business Team arrived at a national competition in Modesto, Calif., with high hopes.
They worked diligently in the months leading up to the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Student Judging Contest, held April 12-15, learning as much as they could to prepare for the contest’s exam covering several subjects in agricultural economics. Davidson, of River Falls, and her teammates – Grant Buwalda, a senior from Waupun; Casey Denk, a junior from Mondovi; and Joe Schlies, a senior from Denmark, all agricultural business majors – were matched against other four-year universities, many with much higher enrollments than UWRF.
When contest scores were announced, UWRF was not only named the winner, but the four top individual scores in the event belonged to team members. Buwalda took first place, and Schlies, Denk, and Davidson won second, third, and fourth place, respectively. After event results were announced, team members felt relief and pure joy.
“I will never forget riding in the car, windows down, ribbons high, and music turned up loud as we rode home with our victory,” Davidson recalled.
The Ag Business Team wasn’t the only UWRF team that is part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences celebrating first-place honors at recent national competitions. A soil judging team competing in the NACTA event also took first in both the team and individual contests. UWRF also took top national honors on April 1 at the annual North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge event in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
In addition, the UWRF Knowledge Bowl Team took second place at the NACTA event after winning last year. The UWRF Crop Judging Team placed sixth at the NACTA event as well.
High-level performances at national competitions are nothing new for CAFES teams. UWRF has a reputation for excelling at the national level, often topping the scores of larger universities and Ivy League schools.
Holly Dolliver, soil science and geology professor and chair of the Plant and Earth Science Department, remembers her days as an undergrad at UWRF and the school’s tradition of CAFES teams performing at high levels nationally. She has coached the Soils Judging Team to back-to-back first place finishes at NACTA, five national titles overall.
“There is a culture here that has the expectation that we will do really well,” Dolliver said. “We have a rich tradition and a history of being a part of these competitions. It is something our students are really motivated about.”
Other coaches of UWRF teams participating in national competitions concurred, saying their students are extremely hard working and diligent about learning as much as they can from those events. Students strive to perform well in the national competitions, and that dedication is directly tied to their performance in the classroom, according to Veronica Justen who coaches the Crop Judging Team and is an associate professor of crop science.
“Every year we keep striving to make our class a little more challenging so that students are better prepared for the competitions,” Justen said. “The students do extra practice because they really want to do well. It’s really fun to see how excited they get about the competition.”
Justen’s Crop Judging Team includes Dresden Lambert, a senior agricultural business major from Fountain City; and crop and soil science majors Jace Heiman, a junior from Kewaunee; Simon Kluzak, a senior from Taylors Falls, Minn.; Cheyenne Burgess, a junior from Shullsburg; Alexandria Broderick, a senior from Pound; Jordan Hellenbrand, a junior from Sun Prairie; and Jack Wolter, a senior from Waconia, Minn.
Students who have competed in the national events said preparing for those competitions energizes them to work harder in class. Competing at the national level requires increased rigor, they said, and those competitions require critical thinking and problem-solving skills in real-world situations.
“Winning this just helps get the word out there that this is a university and a program that has strong students who are capable of doing just as good or better than other schools out there,” UWRF Dairy Science Professor Sylvia Kehoe said.
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