Benjamin Gifford of Chautauqua Lake Central School won first place in the Bulldozer Trench competition. The senior received a $1,500 scholarship.

Aaron Stevens of Sherman Central School and Carson Faulkner of Clymer Central School both earned first-place awards in the Skid-Steer competition. The juniors each received $1,500 scholarships.

William Homan, a senior at Chautauqua Lake Central School, won first place in the Bow Saw competition. By winning, he received a $1,000 scholarship.

Jamison Caldwell, a junior at Frewsburg Central School, won first in the Men’s Person Pulp Throw competition and earned a $1,500 scholarship.

Receiving second-place awards were Jacob Kinne, $1,000, in the Backhoe “Tic-Tac-Toe” competition; Gavin Anderson and Cole Johnson, $1,000 each, in the Peavey Log Roll competition; Caleb Blake, $1,000, in the Land Judging competition; and Grayson Elleman, $1,000, in the Men’s Person Pulp Throw competition.

Receiving third-place awards were Alexa Rounds, $750, in the Woman’s Single Person Pulp Throw competition; Jaden Clark, $750, in the Bulldozer Log Roll competition; Brogan Egan and Grayson Elleman, $750 each, in the Skid-Steer competition; and Gavin Anderson, Nathan Alexander, Cole Johnson, and Jamison Caldwell, $750 each, in the Differential Leveling competition.

Jeff Angeletti and Chris Hy, Conservation/Natural Resource Management teachers at Hewes, traveled to the annual competition with the students.

The event is organized by conservation instructors from around the state and is facilitated by the hosting college.

Hundreds of students from BOCES locations across New York participate each year. Competitions range from identifying wildlife and trees to axe-throwing, bulldozer log roll, and fire-building, among others.

Career and Technical Education programming typically serves students in their junior and senior years of high school, with students selecting the option to attend an E2CCB CTE program in their sophomore year.

For more information, visit e2ccb.org

Fifteen students from the Hewes Educational Center earned $18,000 in scholarships after placing at the New York State Conservation Competition. Submitted photos