Greenville
High School students shared their knowledge about food production and safety
with first-graders on Thursday, Oct. 10th, during the FFA’s Annual
Safety Awareness Day at the Darke County Fairgrounds.
“We
host this annual event because it’s a learning experience for both our high
school students and our school district’s first-graders,” said John Guttadore,
agricultural teacher and FFA adviser.
First-graders
from Greenville City Schools and St. Mary’s first-graders attended the event at
the fairgrounds. The high school students set up many learning stations at the
fairgrounds.
“It’s an
urban education day,” said Patrick Garber, FFA President, “They get to taste
cheese made from the cow, taste apple butter and apple cider, eat popcorn,
roast marshmallows, taste honey, and learn how certain situations are
dangerous.” He also said that as the
children boarded the buses to return to school, they received a few reminders
of their trip to Safety Awareness Days.
They included pencils, coloring pages, safety brochures, apples, and
pumpkins.
Many
of the stations are focused on safety – such as bicycle safety, fire safety,
lawn mower safety, and first aid. Other stations focus on various aspects of
agriculture. Students also learned about products made from milk, corn, soybeans,
honey and apples, as well as the products that go into making a cheeseburger.
They petted farm animals, sat on a tractor, roasted marshmallows, and painted
pumpkins.
“Most students today do not live on farms,” Guttadore said.
“Days like these give students an opportunity to learn about where their food
comes from.”
Members of the Greenville FFA provided and served
lunch for the children. They sat on bales of straw on an almost perfect weather
day to enjoy their noontime lunch of ham sandwiches, apple, cookies, and water.
This program has been a tradition for the FFA for many
years and each year we try to add something new and different. This year we
added a station dealing with Lawn mowers and how to keep safe when in the
presence of one. “Safety Awareness Days is a unique opportunity for the younger
students to experience agriculture for a day, and learn about being safe in a
way they can understand,” stated Guttadore.
We would also like to thank the Greenville Township
Fire department and their sidekicks Rage and Walker, Darke Co. YMCA, Spirit
Medical Transport, Greenville High Schools Careers with Children program, Darke
Co. Senior Fair board, Greenville Street Department, Mrs. Shellenbarger’s
hospitalities class at the high school, Mrs. Denise McDade for help with the
lunch products, Schlecty Family Farms, Jim and Luann Mann, and all the Alumni,
Parents and Members who made this day possible. All of the donations, time, and
effort made this great day possible. Thanks again.
