WOODBURY — Anyone walking through the Nonnewaug agricultural building in October may see students pacing back and forth talking to themselves with big binders and flash cards falling out of their hands.
The UConn Department of Agriculture has its yearly Career Development Events days in the spring and fall.
The Woodbury FFA will have several teams to compete on Nov. 1. Nonnewaug students have been preparing for this day since the beginning of the year. Students anticipate this day, particularly those studying agriculture outside of the normal activities at Nonnewaug.
CDE day gives agriscience students chance to show off their hard work. Students who excel and win the competition will have the opportunity to compete at the national level.
Students will arrive at Nonnewaug at 6:30 a.m. in order to be at Storrs at 9 a.m. Students will be judged on a team activity, oral/reasoning classes, and a knowledge test. The competition will consist of livestock evaluation, floriculture evaluation, nursery landscape, horse evaluation, poultry evaluation, meat evaluation, milk products, and forestry.
One CDE advisor, floriculture teacher Eric Birkenberger, has been helping his students prepare for there floriculture CDE since September.
“I give them a lot of resources and they work on it on their own. If we have time, we go to the garden on the truck and go over plant material there,” states Birkenberger.
The Floriculture CDE requires students to identify plants, judge flower arrangements and solve problems.
“For the contest they take 50 questions from all the past five years from nationals. We have those set up with Quizlets; the kids study those,” says Birkenberger. “I’ll go over certain questions they might have. We practice on corsages and there is a team event that has major points.
Livestock Evaluation CDE consists of judging swine, beef cattle, sheep, goats, and understanding how the animal is structurally built and its function. The coach of the team is Jesse Hungerford, a vet teacher at Nonnewaug.
Participants in the Nursery/Landscape CDE test skills in maintaining landscape plants and related products, evaluating equipment and services and performing landscape design. The coach of the team is Jennifer Plasky, who teaches agriscience landscaping.
The Horse Evaluation CDE includes evaluating and ranking horses based on breed characteristics, conformation and performance. Marisa Bedron, the equine teacher, coaches the team.
Poultry Evaluation CDE focuses on a member’s ability to utilize logical reasoning in relation to production, management, marketing and consumption of poultry products. Vet teacher Jennifer Jedd is the coach of the team.
Meat Evaluation CDE is evaluating beef carcasses for quality and yield grade and identifying cuts. Gillian Blood, the freshman ag teacher, coaches the team and seeks more members.
“We have practice every Thursday, some came in to talk to me,” says Blood. “I would like to see our team win, [but] obviously it is my first year.”
Blood has her students work hard every practice. She brings her experience into the competition.
“My goal is getting us out there to see how it runs. We can always try again for next year,” Blood says.
The Milk Products CDE demonstrates their knowledge about the quality production, processing, distribution, promotion and marketing of milk and dairy foods. The coach of the team is Katie Gorman, who teaches large animal science classes.
The Forestry CDE requires students to show their skills in diagnosing forest disorders, managing forests and forest inventory and applying approved silviculture practices. Natural resources teacher Lee McMillan coaches the team.
After all the practice and weeks preparing, teams are finally prepared.
“It is stressful for me because I know that it isn’t an easy contest,” Birkenberger said. “Last year my team almost had a perfect score, [which] was super exciting. I know it is a winnable contest for the students if they take the time to do it. Obviously I want them to win, but sometimes it’s hard. My team that won last year competed twice. I hope this team gets first and not second.”
