Avian Science Notes, December 2024, Volume 2

     In the upcoming December volumes of Avian Science Notes, I will include contributions from the 2024 National Avian Bowl Champions.    That would be members of our hard-working, California Avian Bowl Champs who won it all in Louisville.

**************************

    "I traveled to Kentucky with my avian bowl teammates Zuzu Haring, Ean Ramirez, and Melanie Sechrist.  We were accompanied by our coach, Kitty Beckmann, and youth assistant coach, Ashley Porter. The day before the competition, we arrived in Louisville.   The  next day we listened to speeches from industry professionals and we talked with  college recruiters about their poultry programs.  In the afternoon we visited the Little Slugger baseball bat factory and the Churchill Downs horse racing track. It was really interesting getting to see the different museums.   That evening we took our written test. Our team did an incredible job. We were seeded second  out of 14 teams.    

    At the competition, we nervously waited to go up for our first round of the competition. We defeated the first seeded team from Pennsylvania in our first meeting, but the competition is double elimination. When we went against them the second time, they got the best of us. In the final round of competition, we both had one elimination left which meant that whoever won would win the whole championship. The round was very close, but after we earned our bonus question and answered the last two questions of the round, we pulled ahead by 15 points. California is the 2024 National Avian Bowl Champion Team!!! At the closing banquet, our team received the Michelle A Hall Award and our coach, Kitty Beckmann, received the Dr Francine Bradley Bowl for the Coach of the Championship Team. We enjoyed meeting 4-H youth from across the country as well as famous names from our avian bowl studies. We had a wonderful experience at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference!"

   -Samuel Belik