EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was authored by Hannah McNaull of Ashland FFA.
ASHLAND — The Ashland FFA Chapter traveled to Reagan Elementary School on May 28 to participate in the end-of-year festivities.
Eleven high school students volunteered to teach the preschool through third grade students about animal handling and plants. The Reagan Farm Carnival is an annual event where students get to be outside the classroom, explore agriculture and have some fun.
“The farm carnival is so amazing,” said Ashland FFA Vice President Nick Cartwright. “We help kids learn the importance of agriculture in a fun and interactive way — not to mention it’s super fun for us (FFA members).”
This year the FFA was able to provide steers, market goats, a dog, agricultural trivia prize wheel and a seed planting station.
Second grade teacher, Mrs. Tina Anderson, generously provided pygmy goats, ducks and bunnies for the carnival fun. Students had the opportunity to plant a seed of their choice to bring home.
Students could also take a chance spinning the trivia wheel to answer an age-appropriate agriculture question to win a prize.
“My favorite part of the farm carnival is working with the elementary students,” Ashland FFA Chapter President Haley McNaull said. “It not only gave me the chance to encourage the kids through tough trivia questions and push them to grow their confidence by asking another high schooler for the answer, but encouraged me and my teammates to grow ourselves.
“Whether it was working together to beat the rain, sharing a box of pizza over lunch, or tracking down animals that had wandered away with children, everyone stepped up and got the work done.”
Thank you to Principal Nicole Brodie for allowing the chapter to participate in this amazing event for the third year.
