Student Club and Team Round-up
Collegiate 4-H Helps Communities
 |
| Collegiate 4-H members recruit new members during the college’s fall picnic. |
Although high school graduation marks the end of 4-H involvement for most 4-H’ers, for some students, the appeal of youth development and community service continues into college.
“Collegiate 4-H is an organization that allows college students to be involved in 4-H,” says Kathryn Taylor, president of Collegiate 4-H at Virginia Tech. “It gives us the opportunity to continue to do some of the same things that we did as 4-H’ers and teach youth about college.”
Unlike traditional 4-H clubs, Collegiate 4-H does not typically participate in fairs or complete projects. Instead, engagement with local communities and the youth in those communities is a top priority. “We focus on community involvement and helping out the younger versions as they need the help,” Taylor says.
The group also participates in various activities on the Virginia Tech campus, such as the college’s homecoming picnic, Relay for Life, 4-H Host Weekend, and Harvest Havoc, to name a few. Collegiate 4-H’s advisor, Nicholas Fuhrman, said the organization hopes to continue the activities it has done in the past and look for new ways to serve local communities this year.
“One of my goals is to find ways to use wildlife for natural resources and environmental education for youth in Virginia,” said Fuhrman, the 4-H camping and natural resources specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension. “I hope that the students in Collegiate 4-H will be able to incorporate whatever motivates them as a group in their activities with youth and their college colleagues.”
Financial Planning Team Wins National Contest
 |
Team members Patrick McGonigle (left), Christina Smith (center), and Michael Kane (right) contemplate their answer during a competition of the 2007 American Financial Planning Invitational. The students aced the national competition and brought home $10,000 in scholarship funds to support the college’s financial planning program.
Virginia Tech Hosts Weed Contest
 |
| During one segment of the weed contest students are challenged to identify a variety of weed species. Photo provided by the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science. |
Students from six universities and colleges traveled to Blacksburg in July to participate in the 2007 Northeastern Weed Science Society’s Weed Contest. A total of 45 graduate and undergraduate students from North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Cornell, Guelph, and Nova Scotia Ag College competed. Students participated in four contest segments, including weed identification, unknown herbicide identification, sprayer calibration, and farmer problems. Shawn Askew, associate professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science, and Julie Keating, administrative assistant, organized the contest. The contest provided an opportunity for weed science students to network with other students, researchers, and industry experts and apply what they have learned.
Student Club and Team Round-up
Virginia Tech’s Dairy Challenge Team won platinum first place honors at the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge contest on March 30-31 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Team members were Aaron Cornman, senior dairy science major from Boiling Springs, Penn.; Chad Craun, senior dairy science major from Bridgewater, Va.; Natalie Keene, senior dairy science major from Canton, Maine; and Todd Wiseman, senior animal and poultry sciences major from Harrisonburg, Va. The coaches were Ron Pearson and Mike McGilliard, professors of dairy science. The competition challenges students to recall basic dairy management principles as well as their applications and to use their organizational, time management, data analysis, public speaking, leadership, and teamwork skills. This was the sixth consecutive year that Virginia Tech has placed either first or second.
Students exhibited several young horses at the prestigious Dressage at Lexington Breed Show held in July. The students were part of the Summer Sporthorse Breeding Internship program developed by associate professor Rebecca Splan last year and held annually at the Smithfield Horse Center. The foals and yearlings produced by the program competed against many horses from across the region. Handling the horses were rising seniors Alison Parker of Herndon, Va., and Sierra Pollock of Heathsville, Va., both animal and poultry sciences majors. In the weeks leading up to the event, the students worked hard to train, groom, and condition the show horses. The star of the show was the 2007 colt Windsor VT, by the Hanoverian stallion Wild Dance out of the Hanoverian mare Dom Perignon. Windsor VT handily won his age class and went on to be named reserve champion colt/gelding, champion young horse and reserve grand champion.
The Virginia Tech Soil Judging Team finished first overall at the 2007 Regional Championship Contest hosted by Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., on October 15-19. Virginia Tech finished first out of 13 teams, 83 points ahead of the University of Georgia. The placement qualifies Virginia Tech for the National Championship to be hosted April 16-21, 2008, by the University of Rhode Island. Virginia Tech placed fourth overall in last year’s national contest in Utah. Joe Marshall, senior in crop and soil environmental sciences (CSES), was the first high individual in the contest and Nick Haus, senior in CSES, finished fourth. Tim Woodward, senior in CSES, and Amy Gail Fannon senior in CSES, finished sixth and eighth, respectively. Also competing for their first time were Hannah Clayton, junior in environmental sciences (ENSC); Steven Waller, sophomore in CSES; Luke Joyce, senior in CSES; and Joyce Kammersell, senior in CSES.