News Release – October 1, 2009
Media Contact – Renee Strnad 919.515.5518
Raleigh, NC – Twenty Wake County high school students from four high schools gathered at North Carolina State University's Schenck Memorial Forest on September 30, 2009, for the 2009 Wake County FFA Forestry Contest. Participating high schools included East Wake, Knightdale, Wake Forest, and Wakefield.
The Wakefield team, lead by teacher Jodi Riedel, placed first in the competition. Ben Stalder, a Senior at Wakefield, was the top scoring individual in the contest. Other Wakefield team members are Blake Baines, Kate Orton, and Josh Tsujimura. Wakefield, along with Knightdale and Wake Forest High Schools, now have the opportunity to represent Wake County at the FFA Regional Competition held in April at Clemmons Educational State Forest in Clayton, North Carolina.
The FFA members competed in four areas; tree identification, saw timber estimation, pulpwood estimation, and cut and leave in which students must determine what trees they would keep or remove depending on management objectives within a given area. The contest was administered by Renee Strnad, Environmental Educator with North Carolina State University's Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, and Jennifer Grantham, Education Director with the North Carolina Forestry Association.
Wakefield High School FFA Forestry Team. L-R: Kate Orton, Teacher Jodi Riedel, Ben Stalder, Blake Baines, and Josh Tsujimura.