- Joined
- Oct 31, 2015
- Messages
- 455
Often, on this forum as well as other places, I hear the lament that kids these days are only interested in video games and school vocational programs have gone the way of the dinosaurs. So I thought I would share a story of what's happening at the little school in my hometown.
At several of the major livestock shows in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, etc), in addition to the animals, they also have competitions for 'Agriculture Mechanics'. Young FFA members build projects, either individually or as a group, and bring them to the shows to compete for recognition and prizes. They are judged on the quality of their projects and the skill required to build them, as well as their communication skills when they present their projects to the judges. The FFA chapter at our local school has had a very successful ag mechanics program through the vocational agriculture classes taught here. Our community is small (town population ~900; county population ~2,500), and we are situated in the heart of the farming and ranching country of the Texas panhandle.
I would like to share some photos that I took today during an open house they had for the community to show off this years projects. It will take me several posts to get them all in, so stay tuned... Keep in mind that all of the equipment you are about to see was built entirely by high school ( and a few junior high) kids.
At several of the major livestock shows in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, etc), in addition to the animals, they also have competitions for 'Agriculture Mechanics'. Young FFA members build projects, either individually or as a group, and bring them to the shows to compete for recognition and prizes. They are judged on the quality of their projects and the skill required to build them, as well as their communication skills when they present their projects to the judges. The FFA chapter at our local school has had a very successful ag mechanics program through the vocational agriculture classes taught here. Our community is small (town population ~900; county population ~2,500), and we are situated in the heart of the farming and ranching country of the Texas panhandle.
I would like to share some photos that I took today during an open house they had for the community to show off this years projects. It will take me several posts to get them all in, so stay tuned... Keep in mind that all of the equipment you are about to see was built entirely by high school ( and a few junior high) kids.