by Autumn Pecarovich
The Ag Department showcased a wide variety of student activities from classes to career development event teams at the 2019 Fall Showcase. CDE (Career Development Event) teams such as Parliamentary Procedure presented live debate rounds to parents to show how their team competes at contests. Behind the AG shop, sparks were flying as they shared their skills with parents and students alike. This year the AG department had an increase in student participation since last year's Fall showcase was help during FFA's national convention.
Right on the front lawn community members, parents, and students were greeted with impressive projects created by our AG mech students, such as the dining tables from the recent Farm to Table dinner. Elliot Mercer, junior, created a grill last fall that was on display at the showcase. He stated, "I'm really proud of how the grill has done. We entered it into two fairs already and it won two second-place ribbons". The demand for these student-made projects is growing. While talking with parents Hunter Ahrens, senior, said: "We're starting to make a website to purchase our projects online". FFA members were also given the chance to share their experiences in the program with prospective Minarets students, such as Kathy Urroz who is currently a member of Kerman 4-H.
Ag business students showed off their marketing skills by selling their Horsepower Coffee.
Haley Murphy, junior, spoke about the night's sales, "We've been getting a lot of business tonight." She continued, "I'm really proud I can present this to the parents tonight because it's my favorite class this year".
In the 500 building, CDE teams showed off their skills. The floral team made arrangements
to show what's available with their monthly subscription service. Their arrangements highlighted fall colors and the team worked very hard to make sure all subscribers had a beautiful arrangement to take home. Daniel Speak, senior, was stationed at his computer with an example of the Horsepower Coffee form and told parents about the marketing plan team explaining that the team, including Davis Cesar Meranda Adams and himself, will be creating a marketing plan for Mariposa Coffee this year.
The CDE showcase overflowed to the next room with educational presentations about many of our popular teams. Lizzy Roberston, junior, represented the poultry team, giving a brief history of the team's past successes. She challenged parents to see how they would judge poultry carcasses and gave further explanation about how the team would judge them based on certain criteria. Lilly Kier, junior, encouraged parents to guess horse breeds and explained how the team would determine what is a quality horse. Parent, Carl Garcia, said "I think this showcase is great. I learned more about horses than I've ever known!".
Junior, Charlie Crose, showcased the teams our FFA chapter has to offer, how to start a team, and wanted to emphasis that, "we want students to know what FFA can do for them".
The AG department organized a strong showcase of all it has to offer students. Parents were allowed to see the skills their students are learning on a daily basis and even challenge themselves at it. The students truly showed their passion for the program and have successfully recruited new students during this showcase to become invaluable additions to our many teams.
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Check out the rest of our Showcase articles in our Special Edition Newsletter!
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