Chickens, cows and crops. Oh, my!
Ag-Day at Champion Elementary
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CHAMPION -- The Ohio State University Trumbull County Extension Office hosted Ag-Day at Champion Central Elementary School on Friday morning, bringing in educators, and several local businesses and organizations to teach the students about agriculture.
The event was for students in grades 1 through 4.
The school and the OSU Extension have been preparing for Ag-Day since the spring.
OSU 4-H educator Ashlee Meardith, who also helped organize the event, said there were different stations for the students to learn various components of agriculture.
There also were lessons on tractor safety, animal science, water quality, plant science, soil science, and food and nutrition, as well as a beekeeping station, apples from Hartford Orchard and a maple sugaring station.
She taught students at the Chick Quest station about animal husbandry and embryonic development of chickens.
She said they also had a dairy station where kids learned about how cows produce milk and the milking process.
"Our farmer that is here today, they have robotic milkers at their farm so they're probably teaching the kids about that," Meardith said.
She also said Friday was their first time hosting this event, but they would like to offer it to other school districts.
"We hope to focus on urban schools first to expose the kids that grew up in a city or might have less awareness of agriculture first, but we are hoping to offer it to everyone in the county," she said.
Champion kindergarten and first-grade intervention specialist Kaylyn Stahl said the students "get a lot out of" this event.
"Hopefully it will get them thinking about how to be healthy with their choices that they're eating or putting on their plates and get them excited about maybe 4-H in the future or working on a farm," she said.
Champion Central Elementary School Principal Alexandra Nannicola said these type of events can impact their future.
"Maybe this could spark an interest and possibly down the road you then become more interested in science in a field such as that and they take that path," she said.
Nannicola said she enjoys having events like this for the students.
"I always enjoy seeing the students participate in anything hands-on and bringing outside community organizations into the school and and partnering with them," she said. "Over the last few years, we haven't been able to do them (events) as much, so it's really exciting to have them here."