Author: Kiersten Wise
Planning Unit: Plant Pathology
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
On July 30 2020, 3 high school teams participated in the second annual University of Kentucky High School Crop Scouting Competition, held virtually. The contest was held for the first time in Kentucky in 2019, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the competition was moved to a virtual format for 2020. Team leaders included Kentucky high school agriculture teachers and County Agents. Participating teams were provided with educational modules and University of Kentucky resources to aid in training students for the competition. Student teams rotated through Zoom breakout rooms with nine virtual exercises focused on basic corn and soybean agronomics, pest ID (weeds, insects, diseases), field scouting and sprayer calibration. All activities focused on improving students’ awareness of real-world decision making in agriculture. Judges, primarily university Extension specialists and graduate students, scored teams based on the students answers to various questions, and provided students with real-time feedback to make the event an educational opportunity. Each scouting exercise was scored, and prizes were awarded to the top three teams with the highest scores ($500 for 1st place, $350 for 2nd place, $150 for 3rd place). The first and second place teams went on to represent Kentucky and compete in the virtual national crop scouting competition. Both team leaders and students completed surveys to assess the impact of the crop scouting competition. 100% of student participants and team leaders indicated that they had a positive experience with the crop scouting competition. Team leader comments indicated that they were glad to participate, even though the event was held in a virtual format. Comments included, “Thanks so much for having the contest, even though we didn't get to be there in person. It's great that the students had the opportunity to still have something to participate in, when so many things were cancelled on them.”
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