Morris FFA members make impression on urban youth
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 06/17/2010 9:15 AM
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MORRIS, Minn. —Thirty six Morris Area FFA members and a livestock trailer of farm animals traveled to Minneapolis last week for an "Ag in the Classroom" event.
The FFA'ers visited Northrop Urban Environmental School and the Wenonah Campus of Lake Nokomis Community School to help students make a link between their food and ag production.
The idea for the program grew from Morris Area FFA advisor Natasha Mortenson's experiences as a University of Minnesota ag education student. Mortenson recalls how she and her classmates visited Twin Cities primary schools teaching the youth about agriculture. The children had little knowledge of farming and food production, she said.
She wanted to continue the farm and food message with youth.
After Mortenson was hired by the Morris Area school district, she developed a program called Pals. Once a month FFA members visit the district's kindergarten to second grade classes teaching them about agriculture production.
Mortenson wanted to deliver the message to the metropolitan area as well. The problem, she told former student and Morris Area alumnus David Larson, was funding.
"That was something I said I could help with," Larson said.
The area farmer and local feed company employee contacted several Stevens County commodity groups for donations. The local pork producers, corn growers, Farm Bureau, West Central Cattlemen's Association and IFAS, a feed company, gave money to Morris Area FFA's Ag in the Classroom program. The money was used to purchase educational supplies and covered meals and transportation costs for the day-long trip.
With the funding secured, Mortenson put things in motion to develop the educational program. Work began in earnest after the Minnesota FFA convention in April.
Senior Lauren Kill was a mastermind behind the project. She wrote the script the chapter members used as they told students about their food and farm connections. Three others, senior Jeff Knobloch, who is also Region III FFA president, and juniors Sami Searles and Amanda Moser, joined Kill to get all the materials purchased and ready for the trip.
Using the Internet and National FFA's Food for America program, the students developed their own "Ag in the Classroom" booklets. Two versions were made. One was geared for kindergarten to second grades and the second for third to fifth graders. Each booklet was filled with worksheets, activities and information about farming.
Mortenson also called Minnesota Ag in the Classroom program director Al Withers for educational materials and the names of schools the chapter could visit. The first two schools Withers contacted said yes.
"If I would've contacted 10, I probably would've had the same response," he said. "That shows me the interest and need for more efforts like this."
The 36 FFA'ers were split into nine four-member teams in an effort to deliver their message to as many students as possible.
Fun crafts were included in the visits. Circles drawn on the bottom of paper ketchup container cups became pig snouts the children could color and wear as elastic string kept the "snout" in place.
A soybean seed placed in a wet cottonball was placed in a plastic bag. Students were instructed to place the bag in a window where they could watch the seed germinate.
And amidst all the activity was a visit by each group to the livestock trailer where students could see and pet lambs, a dairy calf, beef animal, baby goat and rabbit.
The schools the chapter visited were diverse.
Northrop Urban Environmental has around 500 students in pre-school to grade 5, said school principal Kathy Alvig. Since the school is an environmental school, it does focus on nature. Students collect samples for study from a nearby creek.
There are 14 different languages in the school with 71 percent of the students eligible for free or reduced lunches. About 38 percent of the students are hispanic. Some of the students had never seen a live cow.
"Many of them have seen pictures of animals in books," Alvig said. "They don't know what the actual size is."
The Wenonah Campus of Lake Nokomis Community School is part of a partnership with the University of Minnesota. College ag students visit the school and help with educational programs including a chick hatching unit.
Wenonah has 305 students and offers kindergarten through third grade education. The school has two autism classrooms and has a diverse student body with 35 percent African American, 20 percent Latino and five percent native American.
"We have kids here who've never seen a pasture," said school principal Joan Hultman. "Kids don't travel far. They've been to the Nature Center but that's not like going to the farm."
At day's end, it was evident the message was well received. Some students, like senior Esther Koehl, were surprised at how much some of the students already knew about the link between their food and ag production.
Mortenson said she was thrilled with the day's activities and opportunities. She was pleased with her students' leadership abilities and how they delivered the ag message.
Through their efforts, Mortenson's Ag in the Classroom vision was realized. And it's not going to stop there, she said. Plans are underway for a similar visit next year. It's something she hopes other FFA chapters embrace as well so more metropolitan youth can learn about agriculture.