CARBONDALE, Ill. — Mallory James looked at her notes, then huddled with her classmates from Madison County to make sure they were all on the same page. They were; the double- and triple-checking helped each member of the team prepare for the upcoming state/county fair judging season.

“This is my third time here and I learn something new every time I come back,” said James, a senior who plans on attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale next year.

The judging contests are one of the highlights of SIU’s Ag Industry Day each spring, and two weeks ago the event drew about 1,000 students, teachers and visitors to part of the university’s spread-out network of farms.

“The judging contests always are the key attractions, especially for the kids, because we use this as a draw for prospective students,” said Todd Winters, SIU’s interim dean of Agriculture Sciences.

SIU’s ag sciences college is one of the university’s few shining enrollment stars. Carbondale’s total enrollment peaked in the late 1990s at 25,000; it dropped for a third straight year in the fall of 2011, to 19,817. But the ag school’s numbers continue to climb, increasing to 1,034 last fall, up about 7 percent.

“The prospects for ag students is pretty good; the USDA just came out with its study that shows 270,000 new ag jobs will available,” Winters said.

The dean said ag economics and ag sciences are the two areas of interest continuing to attract the most new students.

The college maintains more than 2,000 acres of a working farm system, including 600 acres of row crop research, and centers for beef, swine and horse research. Its main ag building on campus also will undergo a $40 million upgrade, beginning as early as next year.

Winters said the college likely will switch Ag Industry Day to the late fall next year, in part to draw more alumni and community members, in addition to maintaining it as a strong recruiting tool.

“A lot of farmers and professionals in the industry are busy right now getting ready for the new season, and we’d like more of them to participate in this,” Winters said.