For the second year in a row, the NDSU Horticulture and Forestry Club placed first overall in the team undergraduate horticulture commodity judging contests at the American Society for Horticultural Science annual meeting held in Orlando, Florida, during July. Team members included students Brittany Jangula, Nick Erwin and Nathan Jahnke.
The team also placed first in the woody ornamentals event and third in the greenhouse foliage and floral crops, vegetable crops and the fruit and nut crops events.
Jahnke and Erwin also won several individual contest awards. Jahnke placed first overall in the individual horticulture commodity judging contests, first in the general knowledge exam, second in vegetable crop judging, and third in woody ornamental identification. Erwin placed second overall in the individual horticulture commodity judging contests, first in woody ornamental identification and second in the general knowledge exam.
The overall team and overall individual awards are determined by points awarded in each of the eight commodity events and a general knowledge exam.
Other club members also participated in and won awards in individual events. Kaylyn Hopfauf placed second in fruit and nut crop judging. Mitch Stephens placed third in greenhouse foliage and floral crop identification, and third in the general knowledge exam.
In addition, Jahnke won first place in the undergraduate poster competition. His poster presentation was titled “Effects of Nutrient Salt Formulations and 6-Benzylaminopurine on Micropropagation of Blue Moon Wisteria.”
Todd West, associate professor of plant sciences, is the faculty adviser for the NDSU team. “I am so proud of our students and for the time and effort they put into preparing for this competition,” he said.
NDSU horticulture faculty members Chiwon Lee and Esther McGinnis also attended the meeting. “All horticulture faculty are involved (in preparing the students for competition), because they are responsible for instructing our students within our curriculum,” West explained. “It is outstanding to see that our curriculum prepares our students at the national level.”
Consisting of 2,500 members from all 50 states and 60 countries, the society encourages interest in scientific research and education in all branches of horticulture. For more information about the society, visit www.ashs.org.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.