FM members Quinter Garber and Gage Wackler spent the day teaching students about maple syrup production.
Submitted photo
PITSBURG — On April 21, the students in the Franklin Monroe-MVCTC FFA hosted Ag for America day. The FFA students took the elementary students around the school and let them do fun activities to promote agriculture. This day is set aside to raise awareness about agriculture for kids in schools across America. Some of the activities consisted of eating popcorn and pancakes, and talking about tractors, steam engines, and atvs. There were many animals to see and to pet and horses to brush. The students could see fish and how the greenhouse works. It was a lot of walking to get to every station, but to see the little kids had smiles on their faces because they loved seeing all the animals and tractors and eating the food of course.
It was a somewhat gloomy day and we got rained on, but overall it was fun and a great experience. Several groups of students were tasked with creating stations and learning opportunities for the elementary students. In many cases, these students picked topics that were of interest to them that they had first-hand knowledge about. They then went to work creating a lesson that would be of interest to the younger elementary students who would be their audience for the day. After doing research and creating their lesson, they presented these to the other students in their class to practice. This practice was valuable to allow them to know how long their actual presentation would be and also it allowed other students to give them input concerning their topic. They were able to make adjustments before they had to make presentations.
When the big day arrived all of the students arrived early with their materials for the event. Josh Armstrong brought in horses for his presentation. Mina and Annette Lavy recruited their dad to bring in an old steam engine for their presentation. Gage Wackler brought in some of his family’s Maple Syrup equipment to show the students how to make it. Many other students brought in animals, equipment, or machines that assisted with the day. At 9:30 a.m., the students started arriving, and over the next three hours, the FFA members educated close to 300 elementary students about area agriculture. It proved to be an exciting day that was fun for both the elementary students and the FFA members. The Franklin Monroe-MVCTC FFA chapter would like to thank all of the people who brought things in for us for the day.
They would also like to thank the elementary administration and staff for their assistance with the event. The FFA members are looking forward to making it a bigger and better event next year!
