The Culver School Board got an update Monday on the schools’ agriculture and FFA programs.
Ag teacher April Leeper told board members her classes are going well this semester, with most of them seeing an increase in the number of students, “Overall, I’m pretty happy that we’ve gained more students second semester than we had first semester, so that’s a good plus, I think, for the school corporation, which obviously will mean more dollars in the corporation pocket because all of my students get calculated and earn money for the school corporation.” Course offerings include Ag Power, Plant Soil Science, Ag Business, and both eighth grade and high school versions of Intro to Ag.
Outside the classroom, Leeper says the corporation has also seen success getting its FFA program up and running. “First, we had to become an official chapter,” she says. “We had to get members, officers, dues, bylaws. This was kind of, again, a long process, but we finally are actually an official chapter now and recognized by the state and national FFA. We’ve done some fund-raising. We’ve done concession stands at the various sporting events, and we sold fruit. This year, we sold 400 boxes, which is awesome, I thought, for our first year. Roughly $2,300 is what we profited.”
She says her students are also seeing some positive results at competitions, such as livestock and dairy judging, “I took 10 kids to Beef Congress the first part of December. I had two senior teams at 9th and 21st and two individuals that finished actually in the top 20, which is phenomenal for them, I thought. And then I had two junior individuals that placed 13th and 47th out of 141, so they’re really doing awesome and really taking off with the livestock and dairy. Our contests are coming up, so I’m hoping we do really well with them.” Leeper adds that soils judging also had a good start last semester, with most of the 14 participating students finishing in the middle of the pack at their two competitions.
She reports there are a total of 30 students in grades eight through twelve who are currently enrolled in FFA, with about 25 of them actively participating. In addition to preparing for competitions, Leeper and her students are also busy planning some events at the school between now and the end of the year, including activities for National FFA Week next month.
