In their third year of competing at regionals, the UC Davis Collegiate Soil Judging Team placed third, earning their first-ever qualification for the prestigious National Collegiate Soils Contest. UC Davis will face off against ~25 other top teams from across the nation in April 2025 at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.

Collegiate Soil Judging is a high stakes team sport which requires students to implement their integrative knowledge of soils and landscape formation by utilizing practical hands-on skills and deductive reasoning. The goal of the soils contest is to accurately characterize, classify, and interpret a soil’s properties and functions with minimal laboratory data. Students are taught these skills and knowledge according to national standards by their coaches. These versatile skills equip them for a wide range of careers, particularly those requiring environmental assessment and strong critical thinking abilities. In addition, this experiential learning develops students’ deep appreciation for soil as a natural resource, which is essential as a building medium as well as for maintaining key ecosystem services on which we all depend.

This year, students competed at the Region 6 Collegiate Soil Judging Contest hosted by New Mexico State University just south of Albuquerque, NM. Although trained exclusively on California soils, students excelled in the competition, showcasing their strong foundational knowledge of soil systems gained throughout the quarter despite their limited familiarity with the unique soils of New Mexico. Students had much to say on their experience overall; Weiqian Liu commented that “It is such a wonderful experience being in a team and learning new aspects of soil texture and judging process!”, Sandra Villegas highlighted the practicality and enjoyment of the course “This class gave insight on soil careers along with hands-on experience with equipment and field practice. So far one of my favorite classes I have taken at UC Davis” and Xincheng Yu remarked on the culmination of the win “Competing with the team and seeing our hard work pay off was a proud and rewarding moment!”

2024 Soil Judging Members: Max Adams, Linh Le, Weiqian Liu, Jessica Martinez Aguilar, Patric Murphy, Zach Orlando-Millbauer, Gabe Reeb, Sandra Villegas, and Xincheng Yu.

2024 Soil Judging Coaches: Ava-Rose Beech, Adolfo Coyotl, Jane Fudyma, and Connie Wong

2024 UC Davis Collegiate Soil Judging Team at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center bright and early preparing for a full day of soils action.
 

UCD team celebrating their big win! From left to right, soil judging team members are: Sandra Villegas, Patric Murphy, Gabe Reeb, Zach Orlando-Milbauer, NM State Soil Scientist Richard Strait, Jessica Martinez Aguilar, Weiqian Liu, Max Adams, Linh Le, Xincheng Yu and coaches Adolfo Coyotl and Ava-Rose Beech.
 

UCD team hard at work describing a soil’s physical characteristics from samples taken from a soil pit.