On May 2 and 3, the North Harford FFA held its annual educational Food for America event. 940 second graders from packed onto busses from all different parts of Harford County to participate in this annual event.

    Mrs. Aimee Densmore is the teacher in charge of overseeing the execution of the event  said, most of the event takes places down hear the barn and that students travel to the Nest to “learn about all aspects of agriculture and natural resources.’’ The program offers many hands on learning activities for the young students to take part in.

    North Harfords own Agricultural students are the ones that take charge in putting on the event there were students who taught the  about agriculture at different stations around the barn area, and students who lead the groups around.

    Junior Lynne Thomas worked at the fake cow milking station and said that a lot went into preparing for Food for America, “we had to contact all the schools to see who wanted to come, we had to prepare all the different stations and fid volunteers to lead the groups around.”   

    Thomas stated, “I was in charge of the cow milking station, so I talked to the kids about how dairy cows provide all these different types of dairy products and then they milked the fake cow.”

    Junior Tabitha Sefa worked at a leaf rubbing station during the event and reported, “the students got a piece of paper and a leaf and they traced it with a crayon to see the veins and the shape of the leaf.” Sophomore Natasha Sherinsky was a group leader and her job was “to lead the kids around the different stations set up around the barns.”

    Many of the teachers attending the event believe the Food for America experience is something new and different for many of these kids because lots of them may not have the opportunity for this type of interactive, especially not in an everyday classroom.

    Ms. Alice Smith, a teacher from Fountain Green Elementary school, explained,  “It lets them have hands on experience with the animals that a lot of them don’t get on a daily basis.” Another teacher from Fountain Green Elementary added “This field trip definitely benefits the students because they’re able to get out in nature, they’re able to learn about some animals, and it ties right into our science unit on agricultural engineers.”  

    Fountain Green students Gavin and Jayla both agree that they learned something by attending the event. Gavin reported, “…I learned that cows have a hump on the bottom,” and Jayla added, “I learned that cows  sometimes have this spot on them that allows you to see inside their body.” When asked if they were having a good time, they both responded with a resounding “YES” and than ran off to have more fun.