A child races through his front yard, trips and falls.
He pauses and begins to cry from the minor pain and shock of the earth beneath his knees.
His mother races to soothe her child, brushing him off saying, "It's just dirt."
Soil is never just dirt, and the Soil Judging Team will be the first to vouch for that.
Last week, the team sent seven students to the regional soil judging competition in Clemson, South Carolina.
After three days of practice judging and a day of serious competing, Auburn was declared the regional champion out of 12 universities Oct. 9.
Jenna Platt, senior in crop, soil and environmental sciences, placed sixth out of 76 students competing in the region.
"Soil judging is exciting," Platt said. "It's made my college experience infinitely better, and the field work is really fun. I spend time with my professors and classmates actually doing field science and get to apply what I've learned in the books."
While judging soil sounds tedious or unnecessary to most, Platt said learning to classify soil can change your life - even if it doesn't play a role in your future career plans.
"Everything interacts with the soil, from the building you're in to the road you're driving on," Platt said. "Some is better for farming and other for building. Soil affects everyone in some way, and soils are an integral part of understanding nature and the environment."
Platt said she and her teammates meet as a class once per week, and spent several hours studying different soil concepts to prepare for regionals.
A different university hosts the regional contest each year, which gives the team new soil to classify at each competition - most of which they've never seen before.
"We get three days to practice judging the soil at regionals," Platt said. "All of a sudden, there's added concepts you have to learn because you're in a foreign place handling foreign soil. It can be nerve wracking, but that's what those three days are for. You practice to understand what you're dealing with."
This year, the team won its second regional championship in the last four years. The top five teams in the region head to nationals.
Nationals will be held at the University of Arkansas in the spring.
Platt said as a senior, she's excited to compete in her last nationals contest and give it her all alongside her friends on the team.
Kristen Pegues, senior in crop soil and environmental sciences, placed third out of 76 participants at the regional competition.
Pegues said she was beyond ecstatic to place in the top 10, but even with the success, there's nothing like the relationships she's made through the soil judging team.
"We're with each other throughout the week and then at competitions we're with each other all day long for almost a week," Pegues said. "When you're working together like that, you form this special bond. It's great how we're able to have our time to focus and our time to joke around and have fun."
Pegues said she knows the relationships strengthen how the team performs in the field.
"Soil judging with teammates that are also my close friends allows for less stress," Pegues said. "We're out there to represent Auburn University, and this year I'm proud to have represented the University so well."
Pegues said being part of the team has made her confident she's in the right field.
"The team has allowed me to be out in the field, see it firsthand, touch it and feel it," Pegues said. "Most of the time we have our nose in a textbook, but this has been a great way to be out doing it - not just reading about it in theory."
The team is taking a break for the remainder of the semester, but will reconvene in January to prepare for nationals in the spring.
"I still can't believe we're champions, and while we feel good about our success, our work is far from over," Pegues said. "We beat the other four schools in our region that are going to nationals once, but now there's a clean slate. They'll step it up, and that's extra pressure on us and Dr. Shaw, our coach, to do the same."
Joey Shaw, professor of soil science, has been leading the soil judging team for 17 years.
Shaw said while he's been there to guide them, the students worked hard on their own merit.
"I wasn't surprised when we got champions because the students worked for it," Shaw said. "They're very smart and extremely intelligent, and they've developed the confidence in the calls they make on the field. I'm proud of them, and want others to know what soil judging entails."
Shaw said Auburn has a long tradition of soil judging, and has been a leader in the science for more than 50 years. Most participants are crop soil majors, but the team is open to all students.
"We welcome any student that wants to be involved," Shaw said. "While it's not common to get students from other departments, we'll teach them everything they need to know because soil is critical to every facet of life."
Platt and Pegues are among a group of graduating seniors who will leave the team in May.
"We'll be leaving the team in good hands," Platt said without hesitating. "We have some younger people, but they're extremely smart. Next year, it will be an entirely new team, but I'm confident they'll do great without us upperclassmen."
Shaw said teaching soil judging to students of all ages is vital for the future of the environment.
"Soil is our most precious natural resource, and we need to be stewards of the land," Shaw said. "Soils transcend all land uses, and I believe as a team, we understand that. This success is a testament to the students and I can't say enough about them. They earned absolutely everything they achieved."
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