College Royal brought students together at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture for a celebration of agricultural showmanship, hands-on learning and campus community, led this year by student co-chairs Alanna De Boer and Jada Guptell.
A long-standing tradition on the Agricultural Campus, College Royal gives students from all programs and experience levels the opportunity to develop their livestock handling skills, learn about animal care, and compete in events that celebrate agriculture. Highlights include dairy, sheep and poultry showmanship, along with the ever-popular Farmers’ Olympics.
This year’s showmanship champions included:
- Avery Macdonald, Champion Showmanship Person and Overall Dairy Champion
- Emma Mooney, Reserve Championship Showmanship Person and Overall Dairy Reserve Champion
- Iris Gamble, Overall Sheep Champion
- Ella Dicker, Sheep Reserve Champion
- Jemma Burset, Overall Poultry Champion
- Jordanna Reid, Poultry Reserve Champion
The event also introduced a bench show, giving students an opportunity to showcase their agricultural crops, plants, floral arrangements, crafts and photography. Voting ran throughout the week with winners to be announced Friday afternoon.
Connecting through shared experience
For De Boer, a fourth-year bioveterinary science student who grew up on a broiler farm and worked on a dairy farm as a teenager, College Royal was an opportunity to help students connect through a shared experience.
Co-chairs Jada Guptell and Alanna De Boer.
“I think it is amazing how students of all years, programs, and experience levels come together, help each other, and support each other in the College Royal experience, and I wanted to be a leader in that,” she said.
For fellow co-chair Guptell, also a fourth-year bioveterinary science student, College Royal has been an important part of her own journey at Dal AC. After transferring from Saint Mary’s University in her second year, she signed up for sheep showmanship and went on to place third overall grand champion and second place the following year.
“College Royal has since held a special place in my heart and exposed me to the world of agriculture, which I have now gone and made a career out of,” Guptell said.
Both students said the experience of organizing the event helped them grow as leaders while building connections with peers, staff and community members.
From first-time competitors to experienced livestock handlers, College Royal continues to celebrate the Agricultural Campus’s unique culture, bringing generations of students together through hands-on learning, friendly competition and a shared appreciation for agriculture.
