Anderson 4-H teams earn regional runner-up
The 4H Wildlife Judging senior-high team is open to 9th- through 12th-grade students. From left to right are Isaiah Kimball, Thomas Stratton, Paul Stratton and Dominick Tondo. (photo:Submitted )
The Junior, Junior High and Senior High teams competed and each placed second in their categories on Friday, May 15, at Norris Dam State Park in a regional wildlife judging 4-H contest.
More than 20 other counties competed, including Morgan, Grainger, Knox, Washington, and Hamilton.
4-H Wildlife Judging is a contest in which 4th- through 12th-graders learn to identify wildlife species in a specific area and habitat.
On May 15 the category was the Tennessee Eastern Deciduous Forest.
Students learn to identify the animals based on specimens, sounds, songs of birds, scat, fur, skulls, and tracks. In a second part of the competition, students have to create a wildlife management plan for six species.
“This is the most-intense portion of the contest,” said 4-H Extension Agent Madlen Conley.
“Students really challenge themselves to learn [more than] 40 species of animals, and then the best practices for them in a very specific scenario.”
While the Junior and Junior High teams’ seasons are finished, the Senior High team will be in Sparta on June 10-11. This competition will involve animals that live in the coastal plains of South Carolina. Only the top three Senior High teams of the eastern region are invited to attend.
Three teams are coming from Middle and West Tennessee, making nine teams total competing.
The top team will move on to the national competition in Mrytle Beach, South Carolina.
“The key to the team’s success is the time spent practicing outside of our set of practice times,” Madlen said. “The kids really take it on themselves to make flash cards, go on wildlife walks, and download birding apps to learn on their own.
“The National 4-H motto is literally ‘Learn By Doing,’ and they are fully doing that. They have spent the past eight weeks learning about these animals and then applying it to real-world scenarios.”
The members of the team are Paul Stratton- 9th grade, homeschool; Thomas Stratton- 11th grade, homeschool; Dominick Tondo- 9th grade, homeschool; Isaiah Kimball- 10th grade, homeschool; Landon Green- 8th grade, homeschool; Autumn Green- 8th grade, homeschool; George Tondo- 6th grade, homeschool; Micheal Giles- 7th grade, homeschool; Timothy Kimball- 7th grade, homeschool; Jaxson Wright- 7th grade, homeschool; Scout Dillon- 5th grade, Grand Oaks Elementary School; Bruce Tupper- 5th grade, Clinton Elementary School;
Raylan Stephens- 5th grade, Fairview Elementary School; Abby Fields- 4th grade, homeschool; Rachel Fields- 8th grade, homeschool; Lillianna Kimball- 5th grade, homeschool; Chiara Tondo- 4th grade, homeschool.
