How do students find out about career possibilities in their area? Ross County Farm Bureau and Ross County Soil and Water co-sponsored an Ag Career Day in September. Nearly 80 FFA students from Ross County high schools took part in hands-on activities and learned more about the importance of agriculture and ag-related jobs in our state.
GrowNextGen ambassador Kyla McCoy led a game to introduce students to career options and their related salary, education, and skills needed. Industry experts in areas such as livestock production, agronomy, forestry, soil science, ag communications, and wildlife management led various workshops.
These workshops featured hands-on activities that gave students a chance to practice some of the skills that individuals in each of the career fields would use in their daily work. Students measured the diameter of harvestable trees, evaluated the texture of soils, and graded hay as part of their rotations. GNG teacher leader Pam Snyder led a micro-pipetting session, an ag biotech skill.
What did the students learn? Here are some responses:
- Not all “ag careers” deal specifically with agriculture
- Agriculture isn’t just farming; it’s about soil and other important things to keep farms running
- There are a lot of different ag careers that I never knew about
- How important ag is and how it is involved in everyday life
- How many things involve agriculture
- How agriculture plays a huge role in society, and that there’s a lot of fun jobs related to agriculture
