VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – On January 6, the VCHS Sophomore Biology class began learning 10 common ND bird species per week. They continued for eight weeks, learning the characteristics and how to identify 80 bird species common to Valley City and Barnes County.
Teacher Randy Toppen said weekly practice quizzes were given, and on March 13, the students completed a cumulative identification exam. The top 15 scoring students received a special award for their dedication to this project. The top scorers (two this year) had their names added to the Ove Knudsen Memorial Bird Trophy. Mr. Knudsen was a well-known local wood carver and carved many bird species over his lifetime. The Blue Jay on the trophy was carved by Mr. Knudsen and given to class instructor, Randy Toppen, in 1972.
The project continues during the fourth quarter with a field research project involving students’ choice of research methods, but all projects involve identifying and studying birds in the field.
2020 Award Winners are listed below:
Ove Knudsen Award Winners – both these students made perfect scores on all eight practice exams and recorded perfect identification scores on the final exam:
Morgan Jenner
Emily Klein
All Award Winners (Pictured from left to right)
Top Row: Samuel Borg, Peyton Pederson, Abigail Gilbertson, Jenna Lindgren
2nd Row: Cassandra Mundal, Jacee Klein, Morgan Jenner, Emily Klein, Maggie Dockter
3rd Row: Paige Kaber, Nicholas Levers, Carson Zubrod
Not pictured: Sierra Schmidt, Jonah Schuldheisz, Hunter Smith
Toppen thanked Greg Bischoff at Allard Trophy, and Deb Beilke, VCHS Business Instructor for assisting with this project.