Academic Judging Team Experience

Being a part of the Purdue Soils Judging Team has been one of my favorite activities that I have done during my time at Purdue. I have been on the team for the past 3.5 years and have competed in different contests in multiple areas across the state. This semester our team traveled to Carbondale, IL for the Region 3 contest. This contest allows for the regional schools to compete against each other for a spot in the national contest in the spring against all of the top schools in the national for collegiate soil judging. The Purdue Team placed second at regionals so we will be competing in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin in the spring at nationals. Each of the students put an immense amount of time and effort into practicing for these contests and it is nice to see it pay off in the form of a slot to attend nationals. I strongly encourage others to be a part of a judging team because it teaches students how to apply what they are learning in the classroom to realistic scenarios and with a sense of competition.