Soil Judging Team Captures Second Place at National Competition
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| Competing students describe a soil pit at the 2007 regional contest, where they scored first place in preparation for the national competition. |
In mid-April, the Soil Judging Team finished second in both team judging and overall score at the 2008 National Championships hosted by the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.
Twenty-one teams from colleges and universities across the country participated in this year’s event, each of these teams having qualified at one of six regional competitions.
“The contest was very challenging and the soils very different than in Virginia,” said John Galbraith, team coach and associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences (CSES).
Team members included Hannah Clayton, senior in environmental sciences; Amy Gail Fannon, senior in CSES; Brent Foltz, senior in CSES; Nick Haus, graduate student in CSES; Luke Joyce, senior in CSES; Joyce Kammersell, senior in CSES; Joe Marshall, senior in CSES; and Tim Woodward, senior in CSES and biochemistry.
Galbraith described the team’s success as an “outstanding achievement” considering that only one of the eight team members had previously seen glaciated terrain and soils like the ones throughout the contest area.
In four of the past five years, Virginia Tech has been one of the top five schools in the team-judging contest, and in each of the past five years, it has finished among the top five teams in overall score, more than any other school during that time. The other teams in the top five for this year’s team-judging competition were California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, Texas A&M, Kansas State, and the University of Maryland. Scoring alongside Virginia Tech for the top overall score were Kansas State, the University of Maryland, Purdue University, and the University of Maryland.
The overall scoring includes the team-judging contest and a contest between four individual judges from each school. One of the Virginia Tech students, Marshall, ranked fifth out of 82 students in the individual competition.
A Day of Remembrance
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| A couple reflects peacefully at the Hahn Horticulture Garden on Wednesday, April 16. Tours throughout the Day of Remembrance gave the Virginia Tech community a chance to enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the Hahn Horticulture Garden. |
Through light, art, music, and the spoken word, the Hokie Nation spent Wednesday, April 16, paying tribute to the lives lost a year ago. A morning commemoration featuring comments from Virginia Tech President Charles Steger and an evening candlelight vigil, both on the Drillfield, punctuated numerous expressions of remembrance to honor the vibrant lives of the 32 students and faculty members tragically taken last spring.
“Although our sadness continues to weigh upon us, the one thing we can put to rest now is any fear that we will forget those who were taken from our midst,” Steger said at the commemoration. “We know now that will never be the case. We have found that weaving those memories into the fabric of our days inspires us to reach our highest promise.”
Last year, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences mourned the passing of two students in the college and a third who had recently transferred out of the college. In addition, a faculty member and a staff member lost their spouses.
The Virginia Tech community had an opportunity to remember their lives and the lives of the others at a variety of events, including tours of the Hahn Horticulture Gardens. Clad in orange and maroon, Virginia Tech students, faculty members, alumni, parents, and friends, enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of the garden on the sunny spring day. Other remembrance activities included an art exhibit on “April 16: Remembrance, Recognition and Healing” at the Perspectives Gallery in Squires Student Center, a time of reflection and music at the War Memorial Chapel, and a memorial softball game between Virginia Tech and Liberty University.
To close the busy week, the Hokie Spirit Community Picnic on Sunday, April 20, brought local food vendors, businesses, and community members to the Drillfield for free food and Hokie Spirit.
For more information about A Day of Remembrance, including biographical statements on the 32 lost, visit www.remembrance.vt.edu/.
Chong Named Outstanding Senior
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| Phillip Chong, agricultural and applied economics graduate (center), is recognized by Mary Marchant, associate dean and director of Academic Programs (left) and Sharron Quisenberry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (right), as the 2008 Outstanding Senior. |
Phillip Chong, the Outstanding Senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, truly exemplifies what it means to be a Hokie. He lives by Virginia Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim (that I may serve), through his actions inside and outside the classroom.
Chong, a double major in agricultural and applied economics and political science, has not only excelled in the classroom with an overall GPA of 3.83, but has achieved this while devoting significant time to helping others.
“He has the ability to synthesis law, economics, and political theory quickly and with insight,” says Leon Geyer, professor of agricultural and applied economics. This competency has helped Chong succeed as a teaching and research assistant, a job that allows him to grade quizzes, homework assignments, and exams for Geyer’s environmental and agricultural law classes and develop model answers and student response analysis for assignments. He has also co-authored a law review article recently published in the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law.
A dedicated learner, Chong actively sought out positions with the U.S. Department of State and with U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia. “He not only seeks knowledge and experience, but he revels in these gains as he puts together a broad portfolio to serve humankind,” says Geyer.
Chong is involved in his community beyond Virginia Tech and shares his time and talents generously with others. Through the Crossing the Borders Service Learning Program, he has been a role model and big brother to a young Mexican boy whose parents are first-generation immigrants. To prepare for this role, Chong researched and studied immigrant identity issues, basic education theory, and basic teaching methodology. He also volunteers as an English as a Second Language tutor at a local elementary school where he helps students with English and math.
Chong is a member of the University Honors Program, Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society, Gamma Beta Phi honor and service society, and Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society. This spring he was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in South Korea. As a Fulbright scholar, Chong will travel to South Korea to teach conversational English to middle to high school students in a secondary school for one year beginning this summer. Upon completion of the Fulbright grant, Chong plans to enroll in law school to study international trade law.