Success in Alexandria, Louisiana
Taylor Adams, Satoshi Takaki, Ben Watson, Chessica Rizley, Bethany Lavalle, and Stephanie Kulesza (front row)
Last week (Oct. 10-15), twelve (12) undergraduate students, 11 from CSES and 1 from AEED, and Dr. Kris Brye (coach) traveled to Alexandria, LA to participate in the 2010 Region IV Collegiate Soil Judging Contest hosted by LSU. The other schools that participated included Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, West Texas A&M University, Oklahoma State University, and University of Arkansas – Monticello.
After three days of practicing, the University of Arkansas' Soil Judging Team ended the competition with four (4) students in the top 10 (the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th high individuals) and 8 students in the top 19 out of 41 total student participants. This was truly an outstanding performance. The University of Arkansas' team placed second in the team-judged portion of the contest. Combining the individual- and team-judged portions of the contest, the University of Arkansas team finished third overall behind Oklahoma State University (second overall) and Texas A&M University (first overall). By finishing in the top three (3) in the region, the University of Arkansas' Soil Judging Team earned an opportunity to participate in the National Soil Judging Contest in late April 2011 in the Bend/Redmond area of Oregon hosted by Oregon State University. This will be the University of Arkansas' Soil Judging Team's second consecutive National Contest that they have qualified for.