HOWARD — Four members of the East Knox FFA competed April 11 in the State Environmental/Natural Resources Career Development Event hosted at the Conservation Area of the Ohio Farm Science Review grounds in Madison County where they placed seventh out of a field of teams from across Ohio.
Team members were Aiden Kapper, Mackenzie Wilson, Ava Page, and Miranda Fawcett.
Individually, Aiden Kapper placed third and Ava Page finished fifth out of 245 contestants who competed at the online qualifier and 60 who advanced to the finals.
The teams that participated qualified through two rounds of preliminary events.
The contest consists of three phases.
The first phase the students took an exam over the environment and natural resources, identified specimens, and completed a data analysis practicum. The second category was giving a group Zoom presentation and the final phase consisted of conducting fieldwork.
In the presentation the students presented a PowerPoint over the theme of “Soil Health.” They gave an eight-minute presentation via Zoom to a group of judges and replied to questions over the presentation.
The team finished with the fifth highest presentation score.
In the fieldwork portion participants completed a water analysis consisting of dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature tests; identified macroinvertebrates; performed a soil analysis where they used a builders level to determine elevation and slope; determined soil type, runoff curve, and area of a watershed; determined highly erodible land; completed a waste management practicum; located points using GPS units; and performed an environmental analysis on a site.
The scores from the three phases of the event were added together to get the final state placings.
The Environmental/Natural Resources Career Development Event is an educational activity designed to assess a student’s knowledge of environmental management and to provide recognition for those who have demonstrated skills and competencies in the area of natural resources.
East Knox FFA has placed in the top 10 in the state in the Environmental/Natural Resources CDE every year except one since the contest first started in 2007, when they won the initial event.
They have finished second four out of the past eight years and won the event again in 2021.
The team will receive a plaque for this year’s seventh place finish and Aiden Kapper and Ava Page will also receive plaques for placing in the state top-ten individuals.
