It’s not every day that a group of kids makes history in the 4-H Program, especially not in the competitive world of judging teams.

But this was no ordinary group of kids and it was definitely not an ordinary judging team.

For the first time Putnam County had two teams in the state contest and for the first time Putnam County has the State Champion Forestry Judging Team.

4-H Forestry Judging involves more that just knowing your trees.

This contest has evolved over the years to become one of the most intense events that 4-H offers.

4-H’ers compete on judging teams in two divisions, Jr. High which is for grades 6 – 8 and Senior High for members in 9 – 12 grades.

Team members spend countless hours learning to identify trees by their leaves and identifying insects and diseases that affect the trees.

Members also had to learn to use a compassing and a Biltmore stick to measure the diameter and number of logs in a tree.

This is a lot of information for the youth, especially the Jr. High members but they approach forestry judging with an open mind and much enthusiasm.

Members often learn subject matter that is not even taught at the college level, but will make them better stewards of our environment in the future.

The path to history began at the regional contest. Teams from across middle Tennessee gathered at Cedars of Lebanon State Park for the event.

Putnam County had two Senior high teams and 1 Jr. high team in the contest.

They had spent several weeks preparing for the event and expectations were high.

Team members cheered as the Jr. High results were announced. Augusta Betterton, Raleigh Betterton, Molly McGray, Coy Howell and Cline Howell placed 5th in the contest with Molly the 7th overall individual.

Now the real anxiousness set in for the senior teams.

They knew there was some tough competition and if they didn’t win they at least wanted to make it to the state contest.

To do that they had to place in the Top 4 to be eligible for the state contest. The results were announced.

The senior team of Catherine Carney, Katie Morgan, Morgin Arms and Christen Carney placed 3rd in the contest with Catherine the 4th overall individual and Christen the 10th overall individual.

The senior team of Mara McDonald, Mitch Baker, Ashley McGray and Evan Betterton placed 4th in the contest.

That meant both teams would be competing in the state contest and for the first time ever, Putnam County would have 2 teams in the state Forestry contest. Both teams were excited!

This meant more work but it didn’t matter they were going to the state contest. These teams had made their first mark in history.

The next few weeks after the region contest brought more practices and more studying.

The teams had additional trees to learn and also had a new part of the contest to learn, forest site evaluation.

With a new focus and more determination, the teams began to improve on their region scores and quickly had a new goal they wanted one of the teams to win the state contest something that had never been done before in Putnam County.

Each day they were quizzed on the material and each day their practice scores improved as did their confidence. Team members even gathered together before and after practices on their own to review and quiz each other.

Finally the day before the contest, the nerves were beginning to show.
They wanted more quizzes and to stay late after practice, but they knew they need a good nights sleep.

Final reviews were complete and the team went home with thoughts of victory.

The teams travel to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus for the state event.

They were on the Agriculture Campus, where Forestry Specialists were on hand to conduct the contest.

The event would take all day followed by an awards banquet. The teams knew this was going to be a long day.

They completed the identification portion of the contest and they headed out to measure trees, do compassing and complete the forest site evaluation.

When they were finished the teams met up to discuss the contest and get ready for the banquet.

The awards banquet is a dinner for the teams in the state contest and then the results are announced.

As the teams sat nervously awaiting the results, they picked at their meals, “I’m too nervous to eat” one the members said. Finally the results were announced.

First the overall individuals, 4th place overall went to Morgin Arms and 1st overall went to Evan Betterton.

With someone off each team in the top 5 in scoring gave them a good shot at top 5 finish. Next were the team results.

There were 10 teams in the state contest. The State Specialists announced 10th, then 9th and as the number became smaller the excitement grew larger.

6th place, 5th place, then 4th place goes to the Putnam County team of Catherine Carney, Katie Morgan, Morgin Arms and Christen Carney.

Cheers from the rest of Putnam County, but what about the other team, did they accidentally skip the team? 3rd place, 2nd place…the Specialist announced, “Your State Champion Team in Forestry Judging is the team from Putnam County.”

The team of Mara McDonald, Mitch Baker, Ashley McGray and Evan Betterton had accomplished what no one else from Putnam County had even done; they were the state champions for Forestry Judging.

The team practically jumped to the stage, there were screams and tears of joy from the team members. Mitch was so shocked;”I can’t believe were actually won” was all he could say.

Mara was in tears, “This is something I’ve been trying to do my whole life, get to a national 4-H contest.” After a quick picture the team members quickly began calling home to share the good news. This team had made more history with this impressive win.

Over the next few months the team will continue to practice and prepare the National Contest which will be held in West Virginia in July 2009.

There are new trees to learn, new sections to learn and countless hours to spent getting ready for a national event.

There is money to be raised to cover the cost of the trip.

So if you see this team congratulate them on a job well done. It’s not easy identifying trees and insects but these kids have done it and have developed the life long skills of decision making and communicating with others.

Just like the 4-H motto says “To make the best better” these team members are truly are trying to “make their best better.”

It is truly an honor indeed, for the team to represent not only 4-H but Putnam County and Tennessee at the national level and make their own place in history.