Agriculture program helps students practice their teaching, organize day camp

More than 70 area children have a better understanding of agriculture with the help of three Northwest Missouri State University students and Agriculture Education on the Move.

Emma Brushwood (Photo by Lauren Adams/Northwest Missouri State University)

Meghan Hunerdosse (Photo by Lauren Adams/Northwest Missouri State University)

Allie Stone (Photo by Lauren Adams/Northwest Missouri State University)

Agriculture education majors Emma Brushwood, Meghan Hunerdosse and Allie Stone organized and led the camp July 15-19 at Northwest’s Agricultural Learning Center, using the classroom-based curriculum provided by Agriculture Education on the Move. As part of their summer internship experiences with the program this summer, Brushwood taught agriculture to children at elementary schools in Albany and Bethany; Hunerdosse taught in Carrollton and St. Joseph, and Stone taught in her hometown of Moberly.

“I have gotten such great experience in the classroom and with kids, and it has been such an amazing experience,” Hunerdosse, a senior from Indianola, Iowa, said. “I love teaching the kids agriculture and seeing their faces light up when they learn what germination is and connect the dots, where the food comes from to where it actually was planted in the ground.”

In addition to their teaching assignments in area schools, the women coalesced on an idea to coordinate a week-long camp at Northwest after participating in a training session with Agriculture Education on the Move last fall. They designed the camp for area children who weren’t exposed to agriculture-based lessons during other summer school programs or through their local FFA chapters.

From 12:30 to 4 each afternoon, the children, ranging in grades from kindergarten to seventh, gathered at the Agricultural Learning Center. The campers were divided into three age groups and participated in lessons and activities about soybeans, corn and other crops, as well as pork, beef, poultry, soil, nutrition and careers in agriculture.

They created germination necklaces, made butter and played beef bingo. They also got to see pigs and a dairy calf up close.

Ag campers at Northwest had an opportunity to interact with a dairy calf on Friday. (Photo by Mark Hornickel/Northwest Missouri State University)

Although the program focuses on agriculture, it encompasses lessons that help children practice their skills in math, science and writing, too. A Wednesday afternoon activity helped the camp participants learn about feed rations by creating a snack mix with varied cereals and Skittles. In the process, the children studied the amount of fats, proteins, sugars and vitamins within the mix.

“The kids are learning about nutrition, and they’re learning math because they have to add all of the grams together,” Brushwood said. “But then they’re also learning that our livestock eat different things.”

Stone added, “They get to learn that you have to have some of that healthy stuff and a little bit of the sweet stuff in your nutrition. The same goes for pigs and cattle.”

Brushwood, Hunerdosse and Stone were inspired to attend Northwest and pursue careers in agriculture education because of the teachers and experiences they had as youth. Now, they are gaining profession-based experiences at Northwest that are helping them further develop their skills and passion for teaching while inspiring another generation of students.

“It’s very important that kids know where their food comes from,” Brushwood, a junior from Elsberry, Missouri, said. “I grew up in the St. Louis area, and I had no idea about anything agricultural-related. Then I moved to a rural area and started learning all about it, and it amazed me. I wish I would have known about it as a kid. I love teaching our kids that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store.”

The Northwest students said they hope that – in addition to learning about agriculture – the children gained some fun summer memories and some new friends by attending the camp.

“I just hope that they see that it’s interesting and that it’s a new area to dive into,” Hunerdosse said. “I’ve heard a couple of them say, ‘Well, I have some experience with farming,’ and some of them say, ‘I want to be a vet’ or ‘I want to farm like my dad when I grow up.’ That’s the kind of passion for the industry that we’re trying to cultivate.”