QANR brings a week full of events and honors past and present students

From the Quinney Field Camp to the Tractor Parade, Utah State University students and staff had the opportunity to discover what the the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources has to offer.  

Sept. 26 through Oct. 2 was the annual QANR Week for the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.  

“It’s an effort to support our students through events — providing them with fun activities and connections and celebrating the college as a whole,” said Addison Kriegh, a junior studying wildlife ecology and management.  

With the recent merge of colleges at Utah State University, event coordinators wanted to ensure that there was something for everyone to enjoy.  

“We recently merged the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences and the College of Natural Resources, so this year we wanted to bring everyone together and highlight all of the amazing things that are in our college,” said QANR Senator Sarah McBride.  

The week-long celebration started off with the Quinney Field Camp on Sept. 26, an overnight camp that included workshops and outdoor activities for students. 

On Monday, the annual Quinney Fair was set up on the Quad bringing clubs and businesses to participate. McBride said that having this event on the Quad is a good central location to attract students to the event.  

“We mostly try to meet students where they are and then bring in clubs from different parts of the college — so about 40 different clubs — and a lot of them participated in the fair and then also the Tractor Parade,” McBride said.  

Ezra Robertson

Attendees watch floats towed by tractors during the Tractor Parade at Utah State University on Oct. 2.

Tuesday’s event was the Cow Milking Contest at the Caine Dairy Teaching and Research Center.  

“There was a good majority of people who had never done it before, and it was so fun to see them get their hands dirty and do something that they’ve never done before and then get excited about telling their family or friends what they had spent their Tuesday night doing,” Kriegh said.  

Not only did Big Blue milk a cow, but QANR Dean Derek McLean also participated in the competition.  

“It was so fun to watch him,” Kriegh said. “He got his hands dirty. He milked the cow, and it was so fun. All the students who were there were cheering for him. That was an example of him showing up and being involved.” 

Kriegh said that McLean was at every event, making it a good opportunity for students to put a face to the name.  

“It was amazing to see him at every event supporting all of the students and just being so involved and supportive towards our students and the faculty,” Kriegh said. “He really made the week so much better by making the college feel connected and making the students feel supported.”  

Students and staff were able to enjoy snow cones on the Stan L. Albrecht Agricultural Sciences Building patio and complete a service project at First Dam in Logan Canyon, followed by a barbecue dinner, Aggie Ice Cream and yard games on Wednesday. On Thursday, students got to grab breakfast and talk with different college administrators and student services at the Meet & Eat event. 

The final event of the week on Friday was the annual Tractor Parade. Beginning in 2006, the parade honors the lives of the eight USU students and one instructor who were involved in a van accident that claimed the lives of the nine occupants, according to Utah State Today. 

“We have made sure to carry on this tradition for 21 years to honor the students who were members of our college who passed away,” McBride said.  

The students involved in the accident were part of the Agricultural Systems Technology program and were fixing up old tractors. After their passing, classmates helped finish their project and displayed the tractors in a parade to honor them.   

“They were doing maintenance on them. A lot of them were old tractors, so then everyone else in the ag-tech program helped quickly finish the tractors so they’d be ready for the parade,” McBride said.  

That’s when the QANR week tradition was born. Today, the parade continues through donated vehicles.  

“The majority of the tractors, trucks and trailers are donated for the day by local businesses,” McBride said. “Some are owned by Utah State or faculty members as well.”  

While planning the events, Kriegh said that representation not only for the college, but also for each major was important.  

“Because USU started off as an agricultural school, it’s extremely important for us to have that week to recognize that we’re still here and we’re bigger and better than we’ve ever been,” Kriegh said. “We have so many majors and so many successful stories within our college, and this week really provides that time to showcase that.”

With each activity, McBride said that they loved to see the students and watch them participate.  

“We love all of our students, and we love having them participate and show up for the things that they care about, and we hope that one of those is our college because it’s amazing,” McBride said.