A group of three students majoring in different components of agriculture at Miles Community College won the first place trophy at the Society for Range Management (SRM) Rangeland Cup Poster Competition held during SRM’s annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN on February 13. The students representing MCC were Justin Dahl from Keene, ND, majoring in Ag Business and Animal Science, Kaci Anderson of Miles City, MT, majoring in Natural Resources and Range Management, and Kamira Miller from Newell, SD, majoring in Natural Resources and Range Management and Animal Science. The team’s mentor is MCC Ag Instructor, Kim Gibbs.
The Rangeland Cup is a team problem-solving competition centered on an issue or problem of interest to rangeland management. The competition promotes critical thinking and cooperative, collaborative work on current topics and/or topics of historical importance to rangeland ecology and management. Miles Community College’s poster topic was titled “How to Influence Kelly ‘The decision maker of the household’”. The team focused on the mother of the household and how she plays a role in rangeland conservation by targeting what she reads. Hopefully, mothers like Kelly will be able to form a connection between the well-being of her family and rangeland conservation by understanding the role conservation plays in the future of her children. Ten colleges and universities participated in the contest, with MCC being the only Junior College at the competition.
“It was a great experience,” reflected team member, Justin Dahl. “After all of our hard work getting the poster together, it was exciting to see it pay off. I also made a lot of professional connections at the convention that were affiliated in our fields of study.”
“It was neat to see these students sell their ideas about Rangeland conservation. They had confidence and the ability to communicate their ideas effectively to people at the Society For Range Management Meeting. I am very proud of our Agriculture students and their accomplishments,” commented MCC Ag Instructor, Kim Gibbs.
Kim Gibbs and the students involved would like to say “thank you” to all of their sponsors for their generous support of this event: First Interstate Bank Miles City, Custer County Soil and Water Conservative District, Lewis and Tracy Krutzfelt, and ASMCC.
Miles Community College offers one and two year programs in various agriculture emphasis areas which include: Agribusiness, Natural Resource and Range Management, Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, Animal Science (both Livestock Management and Pre-Veterinary), and Agriculture Production. For more information about MCC and its academic programs, visit www.milescc.edu or contact MCC at 406.874.6100.
