2015

Forest industry students shine in international competition

Successfully mastering complicated quizzes and various tasks on forest management and environmental protection, students from 11 countries took part in the final round of the international competition “Young People in European Forests” that took place in Romania. Forest industry students from Latvia not only acquired new experience and appreciation certificates, but also manned the podium - finishing in third place.

Marta Svalbone, a student from Ogre Technical College, together with Portuguese and Romanian representatives, took the 3^rd. The other participants – Matiss Murnieks and Ilmars Ansons – received  merit certificates, and, of course, new experience – more extensive knowledge about European forests and pride about one's country.

During the competition's finals, students had to answer a number of complicated questions, successfully orientate themselves in the forest looking for control checkpoints, and solve various exercises about forest management and environmental protection. Participants were given two days to do the largest exercise of all – to find the necessary materials and prepare a poster on one the 11 themes on forest management. The posters featured several themes – Nature2000 territories, European forest certification, protected animal species, use of forest resources, bioenergy, and other interesting developments.

Young People in Forests is the largest forest and forest management competition for European students, held for the fourth time. Participating in the competition were students from 11 countries – Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Romania. The final round of this year's competition took place in Romania, in the mountain town Busteni. Detailed information about the competition at: http://ypef.eu/

The national candidate selection was organized by JSC "Latvia's State Forests" in collaboration with Ogre Technical College. Ogre Technical College students, who began the 2014/2015 academic year and were in the age group of 13-20 years, were allowed to apply for the national candidate selection that took place in June 2015.