Members of the 2006 National Collegiate Poultry Judging Contest from Texas A&M University are (from left, sitting) Jacob Coppedge of New Braunfels, Dawna Winkler of Schulenburg, Jenna Moore of Adkins and Saxon Dittert of Schulenburg. Standing (from left) are John Wood of Nacogdoches and coach Jason Lee of Bryan. (Photo courtesy of the Texas A&M University department of poultry science)
COLLEGE STATION The Texas A&M University Poultry Judging Team recently won 2006 National Collegiate Poultry Judging Contest title at competition at the University of Arkansas.
Team members are John Wood of Nacogdoches, Dawna Winkler and Saxon Dittert of Schulenburg, Jacob Coppedge of New Braunfels and Jenna Moore of Adkins. The coach is Dr. Jason Lee of Bryan, assistant lecturer and adviser at Texas A&M.
Two major, national-level contests are held each year, and a Texas A&M team has won 19 of the 40 contests over the last 20 years, said Dr. Alan Sams, head of the department of poultry science.
“Texas A&M is obviously known nationally for our judging team excellence,” Sams said.
Poultry judging teaches team- building skills along with confidence-building skills among individual team members, he said.
“These are all-important skills as our students move into leadership roles in industry and society,” he said.
It is also a valuable recruiting tool, he said.
“High school students look up to these Aggies and come to the Texas A&M poultry science department in hopes of being selected for the team.”
The collegiate team members also help with many high school judging workshops.
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