Tuscola High School students placed first among the 13 competing teams at the 2012 Area Land Judging contest hosted earlier this month by the Future Farmers of America. Teams of students were asked to analyze samples of soil and dirt and size up its characteristics, which determines potential uses such as for farming, a landfill, septic system or a building foundation.
Soil texture, structure, consistence, its tendency to erode, drainage and potential water issues all come into play for the evaluations. The teams rotated among four sites, each featuring a soil pit and different challenges in terms of slope, proximity to water and other special environmental concerns.
The location of the competition is always kept secret prior to the event, so students can’t cheat and evaluate the dirt beforehand. The competition this was located in Iron Duff area of Haywood County.
Schools from six western counties participated. Tuscola ranked first in three of the four categories and snagged first place overall team. Tuscola Senior Taylor Messer also earned the top individual spot and Jacob Hyatt, also a Tuscola student, won third place.
Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District sponsors the competition each fall with help from soil scientists and faculty from Tuscola.
Stephen Dobyns has written 20 novels and more than 10 volumes of poetry; however, he is difficult to “classify.” His writing is praised by big league names as varied as Francine Prose and Stephen King, but he is most famous for a “sexual harassment” charge brought against him while he was teaching at Syracuse University (allegedly, he was overheard making “salty and crude” comments at a party).
