Last week, UNT Geography students and faculty went to the 2021 Southwest Division of the American Association of Geographers (SWAAG) Meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. SWAAG is the regional division of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) with members from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Our department representatives gave presentations, went on field trips, participated in student paper and poster competitions, and joined a friendly competition of the World Geography Bowl. We are happy to announce that this year, like in years past, the Dept. of Geography and the Environment represented well!

In the Undergraduate Poster Competition, Madeline Crawford, a senior working on her BS in Geography, won first place, with her topic of "Social Vulnerability and Septicemia in Texas Counties 1980-2019." Then, Ashley Green, a senior BA in Geography student, won third place with her poster "Vernacular Rephotography of Texas Parks: Everyday Exploration of Place, Past & Present."

Two of our graduate students took the top two places in the Graduate Paper Competition. Kate Lester (current PhD student in Environmental Science, MS in Applied Geography, 2014) won first place with her paper "From Rural Penalty to Suburban Resilience: Untangling the geography of suicide mortality, urbanization, and race/ethnicity." Zach Tabor (current research master's student) won second place with his paper "Big Game, Big Decisions, and Big Government: Identifying Chronic Wasting Disease and Feral Hog Management Strategies."

To cap it off, our students (both undergrad and grad) took part in the World Geography Bowl. It was a fierce competition, but the team, the Mean Green Guessers, won! We are so proud of all our students. A special thanks to Geography faculty Dr. Matthew Fry and Dr. Alexandra Ponette-González for taking students to OKC and for their guidance. Congratulations to all the winners and a kudos to everyone who participated, in person and virtually!