Prairieview-Ogden board gives nod to Ag Program

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com

What can seventh- and eighth-grade students who attend school while surrounded by corn and soybean fields learn about agriculture?

According to Mallory Knight, whom the Prairieview-Ogden School District recently brought on staff to teach agriculture to the middle school-aged students once a week for 45 minutes, there is a lot for them to learn.

The semester-long course being offered to seventh-grade students in the fall semester and eight-grade students in the spring semester, covers everything from what a pumpkin seed looks like, to the parts of a soybean plant, to how to measure acreage and what career opportunities are in the agriculture field.

Knight, who grew up on a farm in southern Champaign County and owns a farm near Gifford now, said that helping students become familiar with ag concepts and ideas in junior high will help them make educated choices as they enter high school and college.

“This is a new idea,” Knight said.

Knight said that maybe the student who wants to play baseball, but major in business will consider ag business, or someone who doesn’t want anything to do with production, but is good with numbers might consider accounting.

“There are so many avenues that they can go down, even if they aren’t the ones getting their hands dirty,” she said.

But students are introduced to ways to “get their hands dirty.”

Knight said that she has brought in a pumpkin seed for them to inspect, and told them about making homemade pumpkin seeds at home. She also talked to the students about acreage.

“Last week we went over acres, which is something you would think your traditional farm kid knows a little bit about,” she recalled. “A kid told me that his dad farms 100,000 acres.

“So, your kids who you think know a lot about farming maybe ride with their dad, but they don’t really know as much as they think they do.”

Last week, Knight helped students map out what an acre truly is and the costs associated with farming that land.

The Prairieview-Ogden students have also learned that Illinois has a vibrant pumpkin crop and is the leading producer of horseradish.

Knight also brought in a soybean plant and corn plant so that the students could hold it and identify its parts.

As the students become freshmen, Knight hopes they will have a decent knowledge base to choose ag, home-ec or shop classes that may interest them.

She said that it’s important to look at the four-year high school schedule and see where introduction classes can fit in so that students are able to take the more advanced electives their junior and senior years.

“At least they will have the option to say that’s something they want to venture more into or no, not at all, that’s not for me.

Taking the ag classes can also help students get farm jobs at 15 and 16 years old, Knight said.

Careers are the last topic students will be exposed to.

“When you say you’re in the ag industry, you’ve got to ask what sector,” Knight said.

“Almost all of my family is in ag in some way, shape, or form. And only my dad and brother and Grandpa are the ones that are on a tractor,” Knight said.

“One runs a chemical plant, someone is in the finance side of it, or my husband’s on insurance side of it. You can wear a suit, or you can go to the city, or, you know, sit behind a computer, if that’s what you need.”

Or the cool side of it is you might be sitting by a computer on Monday. And on Tuesday, you’re going to go out and talk to somebody and then Wednesday, maybe you’re sitting in the tractor with the guy.

“It allows flexibility to what your career is.” she said.

Knight said Prairieview-Ogden is the perfect place to begin this program because the hands-on field meshes well with the hands-on atmosphere of the teachers and administration.

With small class sizes, Knight said she’s able to connect with each of the students, and she knows that if she needs anything, the administration is there behind her.

Knight said that she felt encouraged when Superintendent Vic White told her that she will be able to offer education on an important topic to the students, even though it’s not reading, writing or arithmetic.

It is not lost on her that there is a financial commitment the district is committed to and also a time sacrifice that teachers and students are making to help the ag program work.

“They see something that matters,” she said.

Knight doesn’t look at the course as just a way of bestowing knowledge onto the students. She knows that in life, having connections is often a way to create opportunities.

“(In the future), they can contact me and I’ve got tons of contacts,” she said, “I can put them with a contract with somebody and get something started.”