Ag Education
Amanda de la Torre and Mackenzie Mackling have each been enjoyed their involvement in Future Farmers of America during their high school years. So when it came time for senior projects, sharing the knowledge they’d gained seemed a natural choice and the two girls teamed up to educate younger students on the importance of agriculture to the state of California and the world beyond.
Leading an excited contingent of approximately 80 Prestwood first-graders, the girls held a sort of agriculture day camp at the high schools ag facility, located in the fields behind Sonoma Valley High School and Adele Harrison. During the day, each of the Prestwood first grades cycled through as the girls brought each of the four one-hour sessions to life while showcasing the products and livestock of our state.
“For me, it’s about education. I never knew much about where my food came from until I joined this program in high school. I want to share what I’ve learned with other kids so they’ll know and perhaps want to study agriculture, too,” said de la Torre.
Ag teacher Christina Story helped the girls design the program and what they’d present to the first-grade students including games, seed planting, making homemade butter and petting a steer and a young sheep named Loki.
Overall, the girls did a top-notch job in educating the youngsters. “Agriculture is very important to our state and our lives and it’s something we use everyday. We’re lucky to have this great facility. It’s the perfect environment for teaching about agriculture,” said Mackling.
The first graders agree.
