Minarets High School’s Natural Resource team members were awarded second and tenth place out of twenty four teams from the Shasta Forestry Challenge. The Forestry Challenge is a competition where schools from the surrounding communities come to compete by learning and using forestry skills.The students learned how to use new tools such as a densiometer, clinometer, biltmore stick, and more. The challenge was held from September 26 to 29, 2018 and the team drove almost six hours to get there. These students learned new skills to help them in the Natural Resources and Forestry FFA Career Development Events and were chaperoned by teacher Richard Chapman and Natural Resources coach Heidi Mitchell. These students learned different ways to manage state land to create a wildfire resistant forest. The students also took a field trip to the CalFire Shingletown station where they assessed the the property and
I interviewed some participants to get their take on this challenge. Mackenzie Camacho, junior, said her favorite part of the challenge was, “being able to compete against other schools and make new friends.” She went on to say, “I learned a lot that will help me with the upcoming CDE season such as what a yew tree looks like.” Sierra Stalter, senior, said her favorite memory was, “the night hike we took to go stargazing. Another is learning to play a new card game called scum with my team and other cool people from the camp,”. When asked if she was excited for the upcoming CDE season she said, “I'm definitely looking forward to this season
This was an important step for these students in warming up for the CDE season to come. Overall, the challenge was a success and the students are excited for future competitions!
