Getting Involved with Spring!

Happy Spring All!

Even though it is still chilly and there is some snow on the ground, it has officially turned spring. With spring there comes a lot of exciting events on campus like Spring Fest, Ag Week, registration for new classes, housing fairs, and much much more! Something that has happened every spring that I find exciting is our soils judging competition. In the fall this year we won our regional contest and therefore qualified for nationals which took place last week in Martin, Tennessee. 

National soils judging is always new and interesting not only because you get to see new soils and landscapes, but you also meet a lot of other talented students who you may work with in the future. To begin our trip we stopped along many yummy restaurants on our way to Tennessee last weekend. The next day though was all work and focus. From Sunday through Wednesday our group usually had 4-5 practice pits a day to get a feel for what kind of soils we may see in the contest. Although most days treated us well Mother Nature does not always bring warm, sunny skies. We did have to practice in some snow and sleet and other days were sunny and in the 50's. We got to see a lot of variation for my soils nerds out there we saw a lot of fragipans, erosion, coastal plain sediments, loess, and other exciting features.

We participated in the individual contest on Thursday and then got to judge two pits as a group on Friday morning. The hosting college was very efficient and always tried to keep us up-to-date and happy, and their southern hospitality showed through. Friday afternoon we received rewards and results in the Eiffel Tower Park in Paris...... but it was not in France. We are very proud to bring home the plaque for fifth place overall team in the nation. One of my teammates did very well and placed 10th as an individual out of almost 90 students who participated and we are all very proud of Alyssa. 

That was a lot of detail, but I wanted to share my experience with getting involved with something that may lead you down the path of your future career. If nothing else, get involved with something that will push your knowledge and help you gain some great friends along the way! If you are thinking of joining the soils judging team send me and email with ANY questions you have. It is a great group of people to hang out with and learn a lot from. 

Boiler Up!

Dakota Westphal

dwestpha@purdue.edu