Range Club Takes on Competition at International Meeting
Published: April 11, 2019 | Author: Parker Nelson | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Southern Utah University Range Club recently received two second place awards at the international annual meeting for the Society for Range Management in Minneapolis Minnesota.
Agriculture Science and Industry major, Julian Mesick, placed second in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam (URME) and the club as a whole placed second in the web page design contest.
According to their website, the Range Club chapter at Southern Utah University gives members the opportunities to “develop skills, network, and have fun.” Club events are designed to help prepare students for careers in rangeland management. These include training on how to prepare for the Pathways program and opportunities to meet field professionals.
“I joined the Range Club my first semester here because I am majoring in the Natural Resources and Range Management emphasis under the agriculture degree here. The club is primarily meant as a professional development club, which is why I joined,” said Mesick.
As well as preparing students for their careers, the Range Club takes biannual trips to the Society for Range Management (SRM) section meetings. All club members get a chance to participate in a plant identification contest and in the URME.
Prior to attending the international annual meeting, on November 1 and 2, the Range Club traveled to Midway, Utah to attend the Utah Section of the Society for Range Management annual meeting. It was at this meeting that club members competed in two university contests: the plant identification contest and the Undergraduate Range Management Exam (URME). At the awards banquet the section recognized SUU alumni Mitch Bayles as Outstanding Young Range Professional and Chad Reid as Range Manager of the Year. The section also elected Dr. Randall Violett as their next president-elect.
It was at this meeting that Mesick placed as the first place winner of the URME and third place in the combine score category. The team placed third in both the plant identification and URME contests, beating UVU and Snow College.
On November 6 and 7, the Range Club traveled to Palisade, Colorado, to attend the Colorado section meeting and to compete against Colorado State University. They competed in both the URME and plant identification contests. Mesick won first place in both contests and the team placed first in both contests as well.
“The most useful thing I've learned from being in the Range Club would be how to interact with agency employees. All SRM meetings will have representatives from the BLM and USFS and sometimes other agencies. This always gives students a good chance to meet agency professionals and get used to interacting with them,” said Mesick.
If you are interested in joining the Range Club, regular club meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 6-7 pm in SC122.
Tags: Student Agriculture
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