DelVal Students Come Home With Decorated Honors From NESA Regional Meeting and Competition
On Saturday, March 1, Delaware Valley University’s Block and Bridle and Dairy Society club’s NESA team took part in the annual Northeast regional meeting and competition, hosted by Penn State University.
Joanne Powell, an instructor and co-chair of the Department of Animal Science at DelVal, served as the advisor for the six teams representing the University. Other universities represented in the competition included Rutgers University, University of Connecticut, University of Delaware, University of Maine, University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of New Hampshire, and West Verginia University.
Students representing DelVal:
DelVal Team A: Nellie Hankinson, Holly Havatine, Charlene Pierce, Willow Smith
DelVal Team B: Sophia Battaglia, Raegan Braund, Hannah Littleton, Kassidy Zimmerman
DelVal Team C: Jenna Allencastre-Doersom, Elizabeth Pinto, Leah Robb, Kylene Stierly
DelVal Team D: Gweneth Marcy, Maia Sudler, Caitlyn VanDeuson, Suzanne Van Geel
DelVal Team E: Malayna Barnhart, Ava Benner, Gracie Paparo, Mike Powell
DelVal Team F: Molly Gehr, Maggie Hutton, Haley Stertzel, Zoe Kelter
The competition consisted of livestock judging and a quiz bowl, with each team having one elected presenter.
By the end of the week, with all the scores tallied up, Delaware Valley was awarded the overall institution at the competition, a prestigious title it had not earned since 2018. Along with the team title, Willow Smith, Team A, Freshman, was the overall livestock judging winner out of the nine schools that attended, along with Team D earning overall team in the judging competition. Two DelVal presenters placed in the top 10 overall presenters: Mike Powell, Team E, Sophomore, placed fourth overall; and Caitlyn VanDusen, Team D, Sophomore, placed second overall.
The DelVal NESA team will eagerly await its chance to defend its title at next year’s competition hosted by the University of Connecticut.
