The Dairy Club of Virginia Tech was named the Outstanding Chapter in the American Dairy Science Association Student Affiliate Division for the third consecutive year and the 13th time since 1980. The honor was presented at the Association’s annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., recently.

The Dairy Club, the student organization of the College of Agriculture and Life Science’s Department of Dairy Science, has about 75 members. It gives Virginia Tech students the opportunity to learn about the dairy industry and careers in dairy science. David Winston, a member of the faculty at Virginia Tech and 4-H Dairy youth specialist in Virginia Cooperative Extension, is a national adviser.

The Club was honored for its activities throughout the year. In addition to many campus activities, the group participates in the Virginia Food Festival and has a Dairy Bar at the State Fair of Virginia. The members get the opportunity to work with the Virginia and national Dairy Science Associations and get to practice dairy science skills in many different ways including judging contests.

In addition to the honor as the top student affiliate, two Virginia Tech students were honored for papers. Lindsey Hughes, of Hampton, a 2004 biology graduate, received second place for original research for her paper on "Wastewater Treatment To Reduce Phosphorus Loses from Dairy Farms."

Lauren Daubert, of McElhattan, Pa., a 2004 dairy science graduate, won third place in the dairy food paper presentation section for her paper on "Low-fat Dairy Products: Meeting the Needs of a Health Conscious Generation."

The club also was honored with first place for Chapter Scrapbook, first place for Chapter Yearbook, and third place for its Website.

Consistently ranked by the National Science Foundation among the top 10 institutions in agricultural research, Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers students the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s leading agricultural scientists. The college’s comprehensive curriculum gives students a balanced education that ranges from food and fiber production to economics to human health. The college is a national leader in incorporating technology, biotechnology, computer applications, and other recent scientific advances into its teaching program.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

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