Ag Day is a day to get students from other colleges to check out what we do in the college of agriculture. Clubs and organizations set up booths with interactive activities to help advocate for agriculture. The well know ones are free ice cream from the College of Agriculture, free plants in a cup from the Horticulture Club and the baby farm animals sponsored by several clubs.
This year I was able to play a role by helping with the LEAD (Literacy, education and Agriculture Development) Society at their booth. Throughout the whole day I got to interact with a bunch of students with a wide range of knowledge of agriculture. Our booth was known as the potato booth! We helped 183 students plant potatoes using the eyes of the potatoes.
Many students did not know what the eyes of the potatoes were never mind how to grow them. I explained to them what the eyes were and that potatoes were root vegetables meaning they grew very deep underground. Students found it very interesting that a potato farmer had to dig to find their harvest.
This day was key to helping me grow as an educator. I had to make connections to these students who knew nothing about potatoes besides they are good with sour cream and bacon on them in order to teach them about the process of growing this crop. Many students were deeply interested in their potato plant. I even had a student ask if he can take his plant on a plane back home!
This experienced showed me that people generally care about agriculture but, do not always take the time to learn about it or know where to go to learn about it. My goal as an educator is to have my students help others in the community learn about agriculture. It is better to learn from peer to peer than me preaching about it. Ag Day is unique in that aspect of it is students teaching students so the non agriculture students are more willing to come and see what we are all about!
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