Global Impact STEM Academy recently celebrated National Ag Day. The morning program was focused on showcasing the school’s mastery learning philosophy and celebrating the abundance provided by American agriculture.

High school students in ag courses were responsible for facilitating rotations for 7th and 8th graders through stations covering various ag topics:

Creek Stomping: Testing chemical and physical qualities of stream health

Biodiesel Boat Racing: Using biotechnology to solve environmental issues (8th grade only)

Soy Cosmetics: Creating lip balm with soybean co-products (7th grade only)

Parts of a Plant: Exploring the anatomy and functions of crops

Coffee Marketing: Using package design to attract a target audience to a creative product

“Several of these lessons were directly from the GNG website, and students loved them!” GrowNextGen teacher leader, Global Impact ag instructor and FFA advisor, Trisha Seckel, said. “The ice cream marketing lesson from the food science AFNR unit on the site was adapted to develop some of our coffee-marketing materials.”