SLOFFA Interacts with Elementary Students at AG Day

Ag Day In Review

Last week on Friday, May 20th, our San Luis Obispo FFA chapter held the 2nd annual Ag Day. This event was held at Taylor Field and was a great success. We invited about one hundred 3rd and 4th grade students from CL Smith to come and learn about agriculture! There were ten different student led stations where they learned about the different aspects of agriculture. We had over fifty students from the SLO FFA volunteer to help organize and run things smoothly. Overall it was a very successful event.

These twenty students volunteered to each lead a group of ten elementary school students.

Student Led Stations

We had ten different student led stations where the kids got hands on experience to enrich their knowledge of agriculture. These stations included leadership, swine, beef, goats, sheep, Ag mechanics, floral design, horses, avocados, and snacks. There were ten groups of about ten kids rotating through each of the stations. At each station they learned about many different components of agriculture and were able to see visuals as well as an interactive experience. For example at the ag mechanics station, the kids were able to make wood boxes with the help of agriculture mechanic students and then went to the floral station to plant plants in the boxes they had just made. After all the kids had finished the rotations, we led them down to the school farm and gave them a tour. There we taught them about livestock and they were able to interact with the animals.

Luke O’Leary and Clare Backens educating students about goats at the goat station.

At this station Elisa Garnsey and Sydney McGovern are teaching the children about sheep.

Taite Stickler is helping a student learn how to brand “FFA” onto the boxes they just made at the mechanics station.

Community Interactions

Ag Day would not have been able to thrive without the support that our chapter received from our local community. The floral station was fortunate enough to receive flower and soil donations from Farm Supply. With these donations, the elementary school students were able to each plant a flower in a box that they built at the previous Ag mechanics station. Without the elementary school’s support of our program, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to teach them about agriculture. SLOFFA was excited to host the 3rd and 4th graders and appreciated their participation. The students were exposed to what goes on at a local family ranch because the Righetti family donated avocados as well as their time.

At this station Jonny Righetti is sharing facts about avocados and educating the kids about the importance of agriculture.

Ag Day Recap

Ag Day was a great learning experience for everyone who participated. The elementary school students were able to learn more about agriculture, while the high school students had the opportunity to gain better public speaking skills. Our chapter received great feedback from the visiting elementary school as one teacher said, “This event was so well run by the high school students that the teachers didn’t even need to be there to supervise.” Overall Ag Day was great success and we are excited for more students to come back next year.