Coconino FFA and the Agriscience Program
By: Alicia McKee, Coconino High School Agriscience teacher, and students Willow and Rosannah “Luna”
The Coconino FFA chapter is excited to begin its second year in existence. Returning students Willow and Rosannah “Luna” were happy to report on their experiences from taking Agriscience I last year and taking Agriscience II this year:
“Hello, we are Luna and Willow, students of Agriscience 2 and president and vice president of Coconino FFA. We want to tell you about our experience taking Agriscience from this year and last year. First, let’s talk about the topic of raising chicks. Last year, in Agriscience 1, we hatched and raised chicks as a class. Not all the chicks that we hatched survived. We got 4 but one died and we bought 8 chicks from Cal Ranch. We had fun with them. When the time came and they were 10 weeks old, we sold the chicks to teachers and students as a fundraiser.”
“Another experience we would like to share is our experience with the FFA Activate Conference from last year. FFA State Officers would come and visit us, and they showed us some stuff that we should plan for in Agriscience and Coconino FFA as a whole. They showed us events to plan for on our part, like those for recruitment and fundraising. They also showed us events and competitions that we could take part in as FFA members, such as volunteering opportunities for the Blue & Gold Gala. We also got some candy, and our teacher ordered us pizza for lunch. It felt like a celebration for completing the conference because it was over and everything was covered by our third hour. We also got tiny plastic animals by the end of it and it overall felt really fun and interactive for what was supposed to be a conference.”
“Another thing that we did is we went to the State Leadership Conference, an FFA sponsored event, in Tucson Arizona. It was a conference to help with leadership skills and to be better at public speaking and making new friends. It was pretty fun and we met some people who were also new to FFA.”
“Towards the end of the year, we completed an OSHA course that lasted throughout the year starting early in 2024. The Agriscience OSHA course was an interactive online class that taught us workplace safety. To be more specific about what we’ve learned, the course included what to do in the case of broken or faulty equipment, incompetent employers or coworkers, and emergencies such as circumstances that require a shelter-in-place or evacuation.:
“Moving forward to Agriscience 2, we started with researching about, and eventually buying Muscovy ducks. Raising them, we started with keeping them in a small metal pen and pertaining to their needs, such as food and water. When they grew bigger, we moved them to a bigger one at the side of the classroom. We then completed an assignment that tasked us with observing the ducks, asking questions about how they behaved. One was along the lines of, “Do you notice the ducks staying distant or together in a group?” We then moved the ducks outside, where we made a pen for them that they are in right now.”
“Overall, Agriscience 1 and 2 are classes that we really enjoyed and recommend for those interested in agriculture. FFA is another thing, though. We recommend it because it helps emphasize the importance of leadership and what it takes to be a leader, and how to communicate with your team. These elements are taught in FFA competitions and conventions like the State Leadership Convention. Sometimes even in-school/class conferences like the Activate Conference. It taught us to plan, to strategize events and how we should organize them to have that underlying lesson of leadership and communication.”
“Coming from us, that’s how Agriscience is different from other science classes.”
