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Jake Pickering from the livestock judging team at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) was named to the junior college All American Livestock Judging team, which is the highest honor bestowed upon a judging student. Students are selected to the All-American team at the last national contest for the season in March, which is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. To be selected, All-American students are scored based upon their academic and judging success. The inductees were required to maintain a high grade point average as well as remain competitive at the four national judging competitions. Only 15 students were selected nationwide.

“Jake is one of the hardest working students I have ever coached, and he has definitely been NEO’s most successful competitor in the last decade,” said Tyler Dewey, livestock coach and department chair of agriculture. “Since his college career began, Jake’s focus was the All American team, and he has worked tirelessly to achieve his goal, and we are proud of his success. He has represented his institution well.”

Pickering will assist Dewey in coaching NEO’s freshmen – an honor not offered to just any student.v“Not only is Jake talented, but I have enjoyed watching him grow personally. His character, heart and willingness to learn make him the ideal All American,” Dewey said.

Pickering is an animal science major from Oroville, California. He is the son of Kevin and Tina Pickering. In addition to judging livestock for NEO, Pickering is involved in Aggie Society and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. He assists with many livestock judging contests and volunteers regularly for farm clean-up days at the college farm. “I am excited to receive this honor. It is very rewarding to see the results of my hard work and dedication to something I love pay off,” Pickering said. “It makes it all worthwhile.”

Upon graduating NEO, Pickering said he plans to transfer to a major four-year university. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he plans to attend grad school and earn his master’s degree in animal science with an emphasis on nutrition. Since he began his coaching career at NEO in 2012-13, Dewey has had one or more All Americans each year. The following six students are the only Livestock All Americans in NEO’s history: 2013 Taylor Langford Megan Montgomery Cheyenne Moyer   2014 Morgan Marley Ethan Propp   2015 Jake Pickering