Junior wins first place in the National Land and Homesite Competition

Juniors+Elijah+Joy%2C+Dusty+Schneider%2C+Jared+Kisner+and+Brandi+Zimmerman+participated+in+the+National+Homesite+and+Land+Judging+competition.+The+event+was+held+in+Oklahoma+City.

Courtesy Photo

Juniors Elijah Joy, Dusty Schneider, Jared Kisner and Brandi Zimmerman participated in the National Homesite and Land Judging competition. The event was held in Oklahoma City.

On May 4, juniors Jared Kisner, Elijah Joy, Dusty Schneider and senior Brandi Zimmerman went to Oklahoma City. The participants took part in the National Land and Homesite competition, which is a contest you can only go to once.

In order to prepare for the event, the students had to put in many hours of extra time.

“The big credit has to go to Mr. Vajnar for taking time out of his day to help us with the practicing,” Kisner said.

Kisner took first in Land judging out of 363 others and fourth in Homesite judging out of 169.

The Homesite judging was determining the goods and bads of land that a homeowner could potentially buy. Land judging is judging farm ground to decide what it is good for, such as crops or animals.

While the school has not taken first before, last year they took second which was also a new accomplishment.

“This is the first time anyone in Hays has done it, and it sounds like the first one in Kansas to take national champion in this particular contest,” Kisner said.

These events are composed of different types of judging.

“There were multiple things we had to do,” Kisner said. “We had to guess different slopes and soil types and erosions. It all corresponded to particular facts on a sheet, all of the things correspond to give you your various types of land and the capacity of it.”

The event will give Kisner opportunities to scholarships all over the country.

“It was really a neat experience,” Kisner said.

19ibraun@usd489.com