FARMINGTON -- Forestry and wood-harvesting students in western Maine brought home a truckload of awards from a statewide loggers' meet last weekend.

Nearly 80 students from around the state challenged each other individually and as teams in tests of skill, agility, strength and speed.

Foster Regional Applied Technology Center instructors Ron Hodgdon and Dean Merrill took their team to Dyer Brook in southern Aroostook county, where Region 2 Applied Technology Center hosted the event.

Seven FRATC students placed first, three placed second and five placed third in one or more of the competitions.

"We're proud of them, and they really did a fantastic job representing Franklin County to the rest of the state," Hodgdon said.

Teams competed in a crosscut relay, precision bucking and controlled skidder driving through an obstacle course. In the individual Game of Logging competition, students showed their skill in filing and tuning a chainsaw, tree felling and general knowledge of logging and safety techniques.

Although he enjoyed the competitions, Mt. Blue senior Paul Harnden is eager to begin his future on the industry. Earlier this year, Verso Paper representatives contacted Maine schools to offer its first apprenticeship program. The company reviewed the initial 20 responses, and after extensive tours, interviews and tests, they chose Harnden and two students from Jay High School for the highly selective program.

"I'll start working this summer at the mill in Jay, and the'll pay to send me to Kennebec Valley Community College for the two-year pulp and paper technology program," he said. "If I want to continue with a bachelor's degree program, they'll pay for me to go."

Amie Lane, a senior in the forestry and wood-harvesting program at Foster Regional Applied Technology Center in Farmington, is five feet tall, but she hefted the chainsaw and felled a pine tree with the expertise of a seasoned professional.

"That looks perfect, Amie," instructor Ron Hodgdon said. "This tree landed exactly where it was supposed to, even on a windy day."

Lane said she likes the physical activity and working outdoors.

"My family owns a large farm in New Vineyard, and we've grown up learning how to do these kinds of things," she said. "I enjoy what I do."

She'll take welding courses at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor in the fall, she said.

Although seniors at the technology centers may practice skills in the classroom with computers and joysticks, they have few chances to make mistakes in the field, Hodgdon said. Each student learns to operate and make simple repairs on FRATC's logging equipment.

For the young loggers graduating from Hodgdon and Merrill's class, technology has made their job easier and safer, but the competitions provide a link to their forestry traditions and heritage, Hodgdon said.