By Taylor Whitley, Journalism student at GWCFC and FFA member
On May 11th and 12th, the Coffee Middle School (CMS), Georgia Washington Carver Freshman Campus (GWCFC), and Coffee High School (CHS) Future Farmers of America (FFA) members put together a fun-filled day for kindergarten and pre-k students in honor of Ag Literacy Day. This day took place at the newly built Billy Walker Ag Building at CMS. Ag Literacy Day was aimed to educate younger students about the agriculture industry in a fun and exciting way. The elementary students were told about many different aspects of farming, care for animals, and produce that is grown.
The elementary students arrived by bus and were then escorted inside by some of the FFA tour guides after being divided up in groups. Some of the FFA members wore boots along with a red t-shirt, but others were dressed as animals such as dogs, pigs, cows, horses, and bulls. Once inside, the elementary students were brought to their first station. The learning stations consisted of a six minute rotation where FFA students created to give the elementary students a fun learning experience about different agricultural topics.
The stations were: horses, pigs, goats, cows, cotton, chickens and peanuts. For the animals, the elementary students were given demonstrations as to what the animal did on the farm and how the animal helped benefit a farm, but the best part for students was when they were allowed to pet the animals. Olivia Thomas stated, “Working with younger children is always a fun experience. Seeing things through their eyes gave us a better perspective on how we do things. Just by taking them to pet the horse or dog we had brightened their day, they were so excited and thankful to be doing something we do all the time.”
Once have the elementary students were half way through their day, they were fed snacks and juice. The elementary students later finished the stations and met in the lobby for a group photo and were sent on their way back to school.
Although this day was intended for pre-k and kindergarten students, at the very end of the day, students of different ages were brought by the Boys and Girls Club to join in on the fun. The same day, special needs students were brought over from CMS and given their own tour throughout the new ag facility.
Overall, this was a great experience for everyone involved. The elementary students who visited were informed about several different aspects of the agriculture industry and were encouraged to become a FFA member. The FFA members working were allowed to take away from this experience as well. They now are aware of what it takes to organize an educational trip and how to create an atmosphere that appeals to younger students. For the FFA students, it was exciting to play the role of an instructor for once.