The Animal and Botanical Sciences Academy sent a team of students to compete at a state competition held at Rutgers University on November 19th. The competition was the Fall CDE (Career Development Event).

For this Fall CDE, the FTHS chapter competed in the “Fruit and Vegetables” competition with forty other teams from around the state.

The team consisted of five students (4 competing and 1 alternate). They were chosen out of the sophomore class. All students had to take a test in class on fruit and vegetable identification. The top 5 scores were chosen to be invited to compete. The 5 students were Alyssa Granito, Arielle Yu, Hadel Darwish, Narjis Moosavi and Jadine Navarro.

When the team arrived ready to compete, they were split up into different groups with other chapter members. Then group by group, they went to the three different rooms. The rooms were the test-taking room, the identification room and the judging room.

The test-taking room was where they took a 25 question multiple choice test about vegetable production. The judging room was where they had to rank fruit and vegetables from best to least based on that product’s characteristics. The identification room was where there were 40 fruit and vegetables. Competitors had to walk around the tables with a specific amount of time to identify that product’s name just by looking at them.

The Patriot Pressed spoke to Hadel Darwish, Alyssa Granito and Arielle Yu to find out their own opinions about the event.

What part of competing did you struggle with most?

• The identification part was overall easy for me. The only hard part of the competition was the test because I wasn’t so familiar with knowing the information on the test rather than knowing their appearance.  -Darwish
• The hardest part for me was the written test because you had to know general knowledge about vegetable production.  -Granito
• The hardest part would be the written exam because there were some questions that I was unable to answer. For example, what is a determinate tomato plant?  -Yu

What part of the event did you enjoy the most?

• I think the most fun and enjoyable part of the event was the identification because I knew almost all the vegetables and fruits.  -Darwish
• The most enjoyable part was probably the vegetable identification and afterwards when we could socialize with others and relax after competing.  -Granito
• The most fun and enjoyable part about the CDE was meeting people from other chapters.  -Yu

If given the opportunity, would you do this CDE again or even another CDE in the future? Why or why not?

• Yes, I would do this CDE again because it is a good and easy way to get experience hours and to try new things. It was actually beneficial to be a part of this event because I learned about new vegetables and fruits. I do not know if I would compete in another event because they do not interest me as of now but that could change. I would also be more motivated to compete in an event if my friends were doing it as well.  -Darwish
• Yes, I would do another competition again because you learn a lot in the process and acquit the ability to get to know people at the events! You also get to compete in things you are interested in.  -Granito
• Yes, I would do another CDE or competition again because it was a fun experience; I was able to try something new and meet new people.  -Yu

What did you learn from the overall experience?

• From this experience I learned about fruits and vegetables that I did not know about prior. I also learned that I should have studied harder for the test taking part. But I would not say that this sparks my interest in a profession.  -Darwish
• I learned that I should study a little bit more. But, I also learned a lot of new things about fruits and vegetables that I did not know before. For example, how to manage them and make them the best quality they can be.  -Granito
• I learned how to identify different fruits and vegetables, such as apples. In the future I would study a little bit more so i could be better prepared.  -Yu

Describe your overall experience of the day.

• The overall experience was enjoyable and fun. I was able to explore more career options and meet new people. There were also small breaks in between. It was not tiring or difficult besides having to stand on your feet for a long period of time.  -Darwish
• The overall CDE had some spare time while waiting for other people to finish their events. It was not tiring because as I said, we had time to recuperate before each category. It also ran pretty smoothly and was very organized!  -Granito
• Overall, the CDE was an interesting experience and it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Also, the entire CDE was actually pretty easy for me.  -Yu

The girls found out their scores later on after competing. The overall team came in 5th place,  while Hadel finished 36th, Arielle finished 29th, Narjis finished 23rd, and Alyssa finished 7th (out of 95 participants).

The girls all experienced something very new on this day. They gained more knowledge about the topic and also more insight on how to better prepare themselves for the next time.

No matter what place the team came in, or what place they individually came in, the team worked very hard for their first CDE and did an excellent job. Great job girls!