Skyline High School FFA Chapter Introduces Younger Students to the Story of How Their Food is Made

“This is our future right here.”

Supervisor Cheryl Cullers captured the significance of an event she attended on the morning of Friday, November 7, at Skyline High School. The Skyline FFA Chapter of the national Future Farmers of America, in connection with a program known as “Food for America”, gathered in the school’s auditorium to welcome fourth graders from Ressie Jeffries, E. Wilson Morrison, and A.S. Rhodes. The idea is to pair older students with younger students so that the older can teach the younger about the agricultural origin of their food. Once the students were divided into groups and paired with their mentors, the crowd proceeded outdoors to a field where stations had been prepared, showcasing livestock, a tractor, and other features of agriculture to give the younger ones a hands-on experience that might inspire them in the future to become leaders in agriculture.

An opportunity to learn about agriculture unfolds for students in a field at Skyline High School. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

The older students understand that this is an opportunity to bond with the younger members in the school system. Thus, the sometimes-overused community coming together theme was completely convincing, coming from the mentors at this event as they guided their students from one station to the next. The community did come together in a very tangible way as the fourth graders interacted with a goat, a lamb, a horse, and learned about the various processes involved in the preparation of all the items that eventually arrive at the grocery store. This is not a matter of magic. It does not just appear. However efficient and secure, there is an arduous and well-strategized method behind the operation that brings the food from farm to table. Whether or not they retain all the specific details to which they were exposed that morning, the greater hope for these elementary students is that a passion might be kindled.

This handsome beast serves as one of many points in a story unfolding about where our food comes from.

If it succeeds in building a fire in the hearts of the youth, this event also succeeds on another level by dispelling the fear of high school for children approaching it. The pause separating the elementary years from what lies beyond is more of a comma than a period, a breath that leads naturally into the next thought. By presenting themselves as role models, these high schoolers demystified any misunderstanding the elementary students might have about this future chapter of their lives: not only knowledgeable but down-to-earth, the FFA representatives painted for the visiting students a picture of what the future will be, in which opportunity coalesces with excitement in the context of a team effort. Add to that an opportunity to get out of the classroom into the great outdoors, where the connection between tutoring and object lessons is far more tangible.

Above: Bobby Ford (L) and Colten Atkins (R) offer guidance to younger students learning about agriculture. Below: a student walks alongside an animal.