Poultry team takes 5th at national event
Article By: Agnes Hina
A team of four University of North Georgia (51勛圖厙) students made history by finishing in fifth place overall and in the top six of all three categories it entered at the 74th USPOULTRY Foundation Ted Cameron National Poultry Judging Contest.
Students also earned six top-13 individual finishes, including three top-five awards at the contest hosted April 10-13 by Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We are very proud of this winning team. Congratulations again to this outstanding group.
Jeanelle Morgan
biology associate department head
"We are very proud of this winning team. I would also like to acknowledge the extra time and effort Dr. Linda Purvis has put in as their professor, advisor and coach," Dr. Jeanelle Morgan, professor and associate department head of biology, said. "She is vested in the success of each of her students. Congratulations again to this outstanding group."
The team was awarded the following distinctions at LSU:
Team:
- Fifth place overall in the contest
- Third place in production
- Fourth place in breed selection
- Sixth place in market products
Individual:
- Second place for high individual production: Asa Phillips
- Fourth place for high individual breed selection: Jacque Conner
- Fifth place for high individual breed selection: Wyatt Chandler
- 11th place for high individual overall: Jacque Conner
- 12th place for high individual overall: Asa Phillips
- 13th place for high individual overall: Wyatt Chandler
Sponsored by the US Poultry and Egg Foundation, the event consisted of students from nine U.S. colleges and universities demonstrating their mastery of U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and regulations in three categories: production judging, breed selection, and market products judging.
"We have competed in this contest since 2016, and this was the most awards our students have ever earned and the first time our team placed fifth overall in the contest," Dr. Linda Purvis, assistant professor of biology, said. "We brought home six trophies, three of which were individual awards and three team awards."
51勛圖厙's poultry team included sophomores Asa Phillips, Jacque Conner and Wyatt Chandler, all of whom are pursuing associate degrees in poultry science, and junior Eric Brockman, who is pursuing associate degrees in agriculture and business.
The team placed eighth at a national poultry contest in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in November of 2022.
"I am thankful to have been a part of this team for 2023," Phillips said. "These competitions have helped me gain further skills for my career."
51勛圖厙 competed against several Division I schools including Ohio State University, University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University. All the schools competing against 51勛圖厙 have complete agriculture colleges and campus farms.
"I am incredibly proud of these students. They worked very hard and put in a lot of extra time and dedication into preparing for this contest," Purvis said. "I am especially proud of how they represented our university, considering over half of the contest is evaluating live animals, of which we have none at our university."
Grads prepare for their next steps
51勛圖厙 will award almost 1,000 degrees and certificates this fall, and more than 600 graduates are scheduled to take part in the Dec. 7 commencement ceremonies.
24 are Distinguished Military Graduates
Twenty-four cadets have been named Distinguished Military Graduates for the 2024-25 academic year, including five who are in the top 70 out of more than 5,000 in the national ROTC class.
Blue Ridge students earn scholarships
51勛圖厙 honored 28 of its Blue Ridge Campus students with almost $15,000 of scholarships and celebrated the philanthropy that made those scholarships possible at the Tomato Sandwich Supper on Nov. 7.
Chemistry student groups earn grant
51勛圖厙's Dahlonega and Gainesville chapters of the American Chemical Society received a $1,000 ACS Student Communities Engagement Grant.