Hangin' with our FFA Kids

Believe it or not, I actually miss working with kids.  After teaching high school for 18 years, you think I might have had my fill of teenagers, but they truly are AWESOME people to work with.  That's what made my trek to Benton Central High School today to help judge essays at the District IV contest so special.  Not only did I get to be around teenagers, I was surrounded by our agriculture's future leaders, and I got to grade essays!

Really, I was in heaven, until I remembered why grading papers was not the best part of it all ;-)

No, seriously, it was great to be in a writing lab, watching kids think and compose their thoughts.  The only thing I think I would have done differently is allow them more time to write.  It's very hard for kids to research a topic for 30 minutes and then compose a two page essay persuading their reader to think a certain way in one hour.  Try it sometime!

With March being a big AG month in the state of Indiana and our nation, I hope that everyone lends a hand to these kids when asked.  As I looked around the library this morning, I saw so many local adults there, ready to share their expertise with judging.  We also had several judges walking around with Purdue shirts on, while others went incognito, but we recognized them anyway.  Thanks to everyone for giving up their Saturday morning and some afternoon time for a great group of kids.  Here is what our Benton Central FFA kids have been doing!

This last picture is of the Soil Judging teams.  We have one group moving on to NATIONALS at the end of April.  They will all go to Oklahoma to compete.  The group spoke recently at our Annual Soil and Water meeting, and those kids really know their dirt!  GOOD LUCK TO THEM!

I love it that our girls are active in sports and their church, but when the time comes, I am going to be a bit of a meddling mom and push FFA.

What do you think?

 My dad was a member, and so was Tall Guy.  That's where we found this jacket!

He actually wiggled in to the coat, but he insisted thought this would be a better picture. :-)

A bit of time has passed, ok, a couple of weeks since I started this post. SO typical of my crazy life!  Last night we celebrated Ag in Benton County and honored a brand new Farm Family of the Year, our good friends Jerry and Carrie Buck.  For reasons I cannot fathom, I went without a decent camera, so you will just have to wait for the official picture.  Yesterday afternoon, I also presented Indiana Farm Bureau's Planet Pizza program to Sacred Heart's Third Grade.  Those kids rocked all my questions about where pizza comes from.  Some of them have never had the pleasure of having a pizza delivered to their door!  How's that for rural Indiana?

Happy Ag Day,, Ag Week, and Ag Month!  Of course around here, every day is AG Day, but it's nice to share a special group of days with you all :-)

Now go out there and thank or even hug a farmer :-)