LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) – Future Farmers of America students from Valencia High School are inspiring a new generation of children to fall in love with agriculture. They are teaching agriculture to elementary school students in Los Lunas.
Valencia High School students were the teachers Wednesday morning at Ann Parish Elementary School in Los Lunas. They were teaching the kids the importance of agriculture in our state. It’s all part of the New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom program.
“The initiative really is to go get students more aware of agriculture concepts, so every year we choose a different book as well as an activity that’s connected to it, and it’s usually about an hour-long presentation,” said New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom Program Coordinator Britney Lardner.
This statewide program started eight years ago. On Wednesday, eight high school students taught 12 different classes.
“We go every other week to a different elementary school. We spend the entire day, and we teach anywhere from 12 to last week we taught 25 different classrooms,” said Shae Devers, Agriculture Education Teacher at Valencia High School.
Karleigh Gibson said she joined FFA after she saw the impact this program had on her parents. She hopes the classes inspire a new generation.
“I wanna kind of spread awareness about what agriculture is ’cause it’s really important in our lives,” said Gibson.
Students also read the book “The Great Pumpkin Smash” which focuses on composting.
