Ag in the Classroom Committee Meets
The Ag in the Classroom Committee met at 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Will County Farm Bureau. Dakota Cowger led the meeting as chairman, and he thanked everyone for attending the meeting. Dakota reported on the current school year with 1,623 student contacts, up from last year, and 31 teachers.
These numbers will continue to grow as we get into the new year. Mark Jones reported on the Agtivity he was working on for the classes, and it will be a 3D tree where they will have neat facts about trees and will make a tree from the instructions.
The Ag Expo is set for March. March 13 is set-up, and March 14-16 will be the program. The AITC newsletter will include the invite for teachers and is digital. Dakota has a Tri-County Institute set for this upcoming summer and is working with Kendall, Grundy, and LaSalle Farm Bureaus on this program. The group discussed the ag education award, and Mark has reached out to the person to see if they can attend the annual meeting and they will let us know after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Abby said she would have the FFA students help with the flag ceremony at the annual meeting and also if they can help with the euchre tournament, as she said she would be willing to help do one with the FFA students. The annual meeting is set for January 28, with set up on Friday, Jan. 27, and will be only using the north end of the atrium building along with the bar this year.
Dakota reported on the Foundation Auction, which will be online with postcards mailed out around January 13. The silent auction will be live starting January 18 and will run until 9 p.m. on February 1. Check-out will be starting possibly on February 6, with the date to be determined.
Abby reported on the FFA activities sending twelve students to the National FFA Conference this year. This year she has 150 FFA members, which is a record, and they will be expanding the curriculum to plant and crop sciences, vet sciences, animal sciences, ag construction and textiles, and a world-class ag program. They have six students working on the State FFA degrees and ten that will enter the record book competition. Her Elf on the Shelf is going to take place again this year. They will be selling them and has about 30-35.
The group discussed some FFA trip ideas for the young farmers to consider. We have heard from Lincoln Way and their ag program, and they would like to be part of our FFA Exchange trip in 2023. We are shooting for April 28 for the event in the Chicago area. Mark Jones and Dakota indicated that the video work is coming along well.
They have corn and dairy close to being done and are working on ag education which needs some tweaking, with three more planned after the first of the year. The group agreed to continue with the harvest dinner and will encourage the corn and soybean growers to do it one more time for sure and to focus the same way and get new people as we have in the past.
Dakota and Mark Jones attended the state ag in the classroom meeting on September 20, and they have other events they are attending.
The meeting then switched to the new posters and having a set printed for Dakota to use, so Mark S. is working on that. They discussed the window clings “no farms, no food” and will have these available to teachers and others as well. They then collected for distribution 15 different ag mags requested by teachers matching what we are offering for classroom events. The group adjourned the meeting at 7:45 p.m.