FFA teaches students Imperial Valley Press business, respect
Waking up for school is hard enough. Rolling out of bed is even harder when you wake up to the smell of manure because you have to go and feed your farm animal before heading off to school.
Southwest High School FFA students have been preparing for the past three months to showcase their animals at the California Mid-Winter Fair & Fiesta, which opened Friday and runs through Sunday.
Southwest’s FFA teacher Kristin Mayo said she believes that, as long as humans are consuming meat, raising livestock is essential for students to learn.
“It’s very much a business,” she said. “It teaches leadership and responsibility.”
Students are expected to keep an online record book system to know how much feeding and taking care of the animals costs, which shows the students real-life production.
Schools can benefit from having a class that promotes agriculture and teaches students to raise animals then sell them. It would help those who want to work in farming. But sometimes the animals become more than just a lesson.
Southwest High School senior Abreona Mason, 17, said, “They become your companion and then before you know it, it’s time to get rid of them.”
Abreona has been doing FFA for the past six years. She is currently raising a lamb and has spent