Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1500904
I N S M A L L S C H O O L D I S T R I C T S , teachers wear many hats and teach a variety of unrelated subjects. Amara Smallwood, a member of Black Oak Mine Teachers Association and a teacher at Golden Sierra Junior Senior High School, is no exception. Smallwood teaches AP Environmen- tal Sciences every other year, Biology, Health, Food Science, AVID and more. After hearing about the Forestry Challenge from a colleague at another school, Smallwood has fostered two teams to compete in the program for the past six years. The annual event started in 2003 and is held in different forests across California each year; students spend four days competing in five categories. Competitors not only learn the basic skills and principles of forestry, but they make con- nections with foresters, hydrologists, wildlife biologists, soil and fire scientists, and more for future career opportunities. In a world of increased fire danger with a need for enhanced forestry management skills, Smallwood is pre- paring students for academic challenges and providing invaluable career exploration. "Forest fires are part of our consciousness, especially in fire-prone areas, such as El Dorado County. The Forestry Challenge is important for spreading awareness," says Small- wood. (For the record, she notes that her last name suits her perfectly, as she admits she is "more at home in a 'wood' or forest than anywhere else!") Working in teams of three to five, students measure trees, calculate basal area to deter- mine how much wood is on a specific plot of land, determine how much money could be made on the assigned plot of land, and collect necessary data to make forest management decisions. Students' use of math, science, data collecting and other skills contributes to 60% of the team's final score. " The program is intense and is very aca- demic," explains Smallwood. "Every year, our students are given a different problem to solve. They went out to the forest and collected data on an area where salvaged logging was done after the Caldor Fire, and their mission was to create a reforestation plan. Students counted seedlings and made determinations about whether or not to plant new seedlings and allow current seedlings to grow, determined if herbicides should be used or not, and more. These are real- world skills forestry personnel use in their career." The remaining 40% of student teams' scores come from Skills Building in Our Forests A unique challenge combines career education with academic competition By Karmen Lee Ortloff Golden Sierra Junior Senior High School students from the 2023 Forestry Challenge championships. Students measure trees as part of the Forestry Challenge. 46 cta.org CTA & You Amara Smallwood