By Jayson Larson/TVCC Public Information
Trinity Valley Community College Ag Club Vice President Robert Young and several Ag students and club members recently attended the 2014 Texas Junior College Agriculture Association (TJCAA) Convention.
This year’s convention was held April 2-4 at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. Students from junior college Ag departments from around the state attended the convention.
TVCC agriculture students who attended this year’s convention were Robert Young (VP), Charlie Harrell, Andrea Meadows, Buck Monning and Sara Clifton. Students were accompanied by their faculty advisor, Marc Robinson, and his fellow agriculture professor from TVCC Palestine campus, Charles Nunnally.
Upon arrival, students gathered at the SFA Piney Woods Native Plant Center and were treated to a Crawfish boil. This was a mixer that allowed students from various community colleges to begin getting acquainted with one another.
The competition segment of the convention was held on Thursday morning. That afternoon students were taken on tours of the SFA Gardens Mast Arboretum, the SFA Beef, Equine, Swine and Poultry centers on the SFA farm. TVCC students performed well, with three placing in individual quiz events: Clifton placed 3rd in Equine Science, Monning placed 3rd in Wildlife and Young placed 3rd in Agricultural Economics and 2nd in Entomology. In the Scrapbook Competition, TVCC placed 3rd, and when all of the awards were tallied, TVCC placed 3rd in the sweepstakes.
“The Conference was great experience for me, it allowed me to see friends from past conferences and to make new ones,” Harrell said. “The contacts I make here are people I will be seeing around in the future. They will be the next Ag professionals in our great state.”
Said Robinson: “I was very proud of our students’ performance and also glad that they had the opportunity to network with many other future agriculture professionals from other community colleges across the state. We look forward to attending the 2015 T.J.C.A.A convention which will be held at Texas State University.”