Salute to Idaho Agriculture: CSI Agriculture students bring home banners from national event

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Students from the College of Southern Idaho’s Agriculture Department recently returned from a national competition – and the Golden Eagles brought home some impressive wins.

18 students and two advisors from CSI, along with one volunteer coach from University of Idaho attended the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) - Collegiate Judging Conference in Modesto, California.

The competition featured over 400 college students, including 50 teams from both two-year colleges and four-year universities competing in 17 different events.

CSI competed in a handful of events including the Knowledge Bowl, Ag Mechanics, Horticulture, Livestock Management, Equine Management, Livestock Judging, Soils, and Veterinary Science.

Jaysa Fillmore is an instructor for the CSI Ag Department, she says competitions like this gives these future ag professionals a leg up when it comes to their careers after they graduate.

“Most of them are agriculture majors, or have an agriculture background, and plan to work in the field after graduation. A lot of them have come from an FFA or 4-H background, so they’re used to or interested in testing their knowledge as a way to help them prepare for those careers later on,” said Fillmore.

The CSI Equine Management, Horticulture, Ag Mechanics, and Vet Science teams all took 2nd place - and the Soils team earned 3rd place in the two-year college divisions.

For Fillmore, and her students - a strong showing like this, means a lot for the College of Southern Idaho.

“It was really neat to be one of the colleges that earned a lot of banners and continually have students going up on the stage during the awards ceremony. Those colleges that sift themselves to the top as being the ones to compete against… and I think CSI is doing a really good job of being in that group,” said Fillmore.

CSI has participated in this competition for the past few years, and the college will host the entire event next year in Twin Falls.

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