Perry Schools’ agricultural education program is in its first year of the two-teacher program and is keeping students active in and out of the classroom. Leading the charge is Mr. Keeland Nix and Mrs. Amber (Wright) Coon. There are 72 students (8th - 12th grade) enrolled in Perry’s Ag-Ed program.
Since the start of school in August, FFA members have been hitting all the fall fairs, leadership conferences, contests, and fundraiser sales. The agricultural education classrooms have also been busy.
8th grade students have been learning the basics to introduce the history and fundamentals of agricultural education and The National FFA Organization. Ag Science I students have explored the beef industry and how the soil is beneficial to all aspects of agriculture, while Animal Science students have discovered the importance of health in the livestock industry and the wholesale/retail cuts of the beef carcass. The Ag Mechanics class has worked in the shop to improve their abilities with the arc welder and other metal fabrication tools.
“We are focused on getting students involved in the classroom and with contests to expand their public speaking skills and career development,” commented Mr. Nix.
During the month of September, Perry FFA members participated in the Noble County Fair, Oklahoma State Fair, and the Tulsa State Fair. Members exhibited their livestock projects, FFA building projects, and competed in dairy judging, livestock judging, and commercial cattle grading contests.
Lukas Harmon, sophomore, had an exciting run at the Tulsa State Fair, winning the Grand Champion pen of broiler chickens and advanced to the Night of Champions. Perry’s dairy judging team also had a great performance at the Tulsa State Fair contest, earning 4th place senior team. The daily judging team members included Ridge Horn, Cailynn Maxwell, Rylan Nix, and Kyler Nida. Nida also placed 4th high individual. In addition, Rylan Nix exhibited the first place native grass bundle.
“I was very proud of our students this fall. We’ve been working hard on introducing the eighth and ninth grade students to public speaking through the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and FFA Team Creed contests. I’m excited to see Perry FFA students continue to build on these skills throughout the spring semester, because the future is bright for them,” said Mrs. Coon.
Perry FFA had two teams of eighth and ninth graders participate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies contest and the Greenhand Quiz at Fairview, Pawhuska and also at the regional contest in Garber. These contests were a great learning experience to build confidence and competition skills.
On September 27, the Perry FFA officer team traveled to Enid to attend the annual Chapter Officer Leadership Training (COLT) Conference to learn about their office roles and working together as a team. The Oklahoma FFA State Officers led area chapter officers through the workshop to give them the tools needed to take home and implement in their local organizations.
Looking ahead, students will be participating in the Made For Excellence (MFE) and Advanced Leadership Development (ALD) conferences in December. Then move into the spring livestock showing season and Career Development Events, which include livestock evaluation, dairy cattle evaluation, meats judging, as well as, Leadership Development Events, such as prepared public speaking, extemporaneous speaking, and FFA Creed speaking.