Barbour County 4-H Team Earns Two National Championships Again
Barbour County’s 4-H Soils Judging Team again returned from Oklahoma City, Okla., with two national titles, enhancing the county’s national legacy.
Both the 2010 National 4-H Homesite Judging Championship and the National 4-H Land Judging Reserve Championship titles went to the four-member team coached by Roger Nestor, West Virginia University Extension Service agent and associate professor in Barbour County.
The Barbour County 4-H soils program has a long-standing legacy of excellence. Nestor’s teams have won six of the last 10 national homesite judging contests and five of the last 10 national land judging contests.
By following the 2009 championship titles with two victories this year, Barbour became the only 4-H program in the nation to win back-to-back national judging championships in the 59-year history of the contests.
This year’s team members are Chelsea Stemler of Nestorville, Brittany Edge of Kasson, Jody Carpenter of Junior and Tyler Scott of Meadowville.
“They had extraordinary attitudes and became mentally tough enough to meet the challenges of national competition,” Nestor said. “This is a lot of pressure for high school youths.”
According to Nestor, the team’s 400 hours of practice paid off.
“Championships are earned, and indeed this team is very deserving for all their work and how well they represented Barbour County and West Virginia,” Nestor said. “It is good to bring another national championship back to West Virginia. But more importantly, it is good to see how well our youths respond when given some time, strategic training and an opportunity.”
The soils program is part of 4-H’s science focus. Other primary program areas are healthy living, citizenship and engineering and technology.
The WVU Extension Service provides diverse educational programs via 4-H clubs, camps, competitions and other activities in each of the state’s 55 counties. For information about county and statewide opportunities, check the WVU-ES website.
The National Land and Range Judging Contests are organized by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts.
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CONTACT: Ann Berry, WVU Extension Communications
304-293-5691; Ann.Berry@mail.wvu.edu
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