For the tenth consecutive year, JVS student members of the National FFA Organization, participated in the ‘Food For America’ program, on Tuesday, October 8th at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington.
Third and
fourth grade students from local school districts attended this event, where
more than twenty interactive displays were set up to engage the students and
provide them with knowledge of the agricultural industry.
JVS FFA
Chapter members, those students in the Landscape and Greenhouse Management and
Industrial Equipment Mechanics programs, worked different stations throughout
the fairgrounds.
Nathan
White, Industrial Equipment Mechanics senior from Keystone, worked alongside
fellow senior, Wyatt Collins (Wellington) at the event. They spoke to students
about tractors, shared how they are used in the agricultural industry and
students even got to get in the cab for an up close look.
“This event allows us to interact with kids that normally don’t get to be around tractors and equipment and they get to learn different things,” said White. “I hope it opens their minds up and that it might spark an interest for them for their future, or gets them to want to learn more about it.”
Each group
of elementary students spent approximately 5 minutes at each station, where
they learned about crops, tractors, maple syrup, beef meat, dairy cattle,
recycling, and composting; just to name a few.
“Food for America allows us to share our knowledge of agriculture with the next generation of consumers,” shared Beth Berthold, JVS Landscape and Greenhouse Management Instructor and FFA Advisor. “With the ever expanding niche agriculture, it is important for students to see a broad view of different agricultural commodities and how they relate to them each day.”
JVS student
members of FFA are actively involved in FFA activities, programs and
competitions on a monthly basis.
Food for
America is a nationwide educational program that focuses on agricultural
literacy in elementary schools and communities. It is a program developed to
assist FFA members and all agricultural education students in leadership skill
development as they reach out to youth, peers and their entire communities by
sharing the world of agriculture.