My name is Samuel Belik. I traveled to Kentucky with my avian bowl teammates Zuzu Haring, Ean Ramirez, and Melanie Sechrist accompanied by our coach, Kitty Beckmann, and youth assistant coach, Ashley Porter.
The day before the competition we arrived in Louisville. We listened to speeches from industry professionals, and we talked to colleges about their programs. Then the next day 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, and we also got to meet some of the other Avian Bowl teams.
That evening we took our written test. Our team did an incredible job. We were seeded second place out of 14 teams.
Study and Snow
In the morning before the competition, we got up early to eat breakfast and study a little bit, but our studying was interrupted when we saw snow out the window of the hotel. The team from Massachusetts laughed at us when we went outside to play in the flurries of snow.
What an exciting competition!
In the picture you can see us nervously waiting 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. This 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 4-H was named the 2024 National Avian Bowl Champion Team!!!
Awards
At the closing banquet, our team received the Michelle A. Hall award. Our team is pictured with Dr. Hall herself. Our coach, Kitty Beckmann, received the Dr. Francine Bradley coaching award, and she is pictured with Dr. Bradley.
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!
2025 California Avian Bowl will be at State Field Day
This year we are hosting the 2025 California State Avian Bowl at State Field Day, in person at UC Davis on May 17, 2025. Youth can register on the State Field Day registration - coming soon! Sign up as a Team in the Junior (ages 9-13) or Senior (ages 14-18) level. Senior Teams are eligible to qualify for the National 4-H Avian Bowl contest.
