Last month, students from the Osage Community School District headed southbound for Texas for a unique, five-day agricultural learning experience. Through the STEM BEST Explore pilot program, Osage offered their students a chance to gain valuable insight into different kinds of methodology, real-world skills and career opportunities in the agriculture field through an experience they call AGventrue.
“It's very easy to get in the mindset of agriculture just being corn and soybeans while living in Iowa,” said Kara Theis, incoming senior and current FFA chapter president at Osage Community School District.
Osage agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Malayne Meyer, who helped organize and chaperone the trip, echoed Kara’s thoughts and explained how experiences like this help expand student knowledge of agriculture careers and enhance classroom learning.
“There is an importance for students to have a global perspective,” Meyer said. “This trip helped fill that need of students expanding their minds to different kinds and methods of agriculture along with careers that they might not have considered.”
Osage is one of a dozen schools awarded funding through the STEM BEST Explore pilot program, which extends work-based and career-connected learning opportunities for students throughout the summer. STEM BEST Explore is an extension of STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers), a signature program of the STEM Advisory Council. Since 2014, the Council has awarded 139 STEM BEST program models.
“The goal of the STEM BEST Program is for students, teachers and industry professionals to work alongside each other to create projects with real-world connections, " said Tanya Hunt, STEM BEST Program coordinator. “STEM BEST Explore extends this opportunity into the summer by supporting schools in reaching more students who may not have been able to access work-based learning opportunities during the traditional school year.”
Osage Community School District partnered with the Texas Farm Bureau to collaborate with Texas farmers and agricultural businesses that were willing to show students their farming operations. Thirty-three students and five chaperones, including Meyer, traveled via bus to Texas for five full days of agricultural learning.
“We packed a lot of tours into the trip,” Meyer said. “This included a cattle and custom farming family operation, peanut farm, reining horse farm, wholesale nursery, u-pick berry farm, minor league baseball field turfgrass management, Texas A&M Agrilife Research Facility and a feed mill at a farmers co-op.”
While traveling, the group squeezed in even more learning opportunities with stops to tour the Kansas State University College of Agriculture to learn about flour milling and a visit with students at Keller Independent School District at their Center for Advanced Learning near Dallas-Fort Worth. On the way home, the group also toured a mushroom farm in Oklahoma.
“The week was packed with tours and experiences,” Kara said. “Each tour had a unique purpose and experience that could not compare to another tour. I learned countless new things each day, and I am excited to share my knowledge with the rest of my FFA chapter.”
Kara appreciated the time business owners and workers took to show what they do each day and to really discuss their operations and lives with the Osage students.
“With each and every operation, there were people inside that had a passion for what they were doing,” Kara said. “Each had its own strengths and weaknesses that they were not afraid to address.”
Meyer enjoyed seeing students interact and ask questions of the farmers and business owners that welcomed the group for tours.
“Not only was their content knowledge growing related to STEM and careers, but their soft skills as well,” Meyer said. “Connections that are made on trips like this will have ripple effects for many years to come.”
The success of Osage’s AGventure shows the potential for future STEM BEST Explore summer experiences and helps to demonstrate the importance of a summer career-connected opportunity for Iowa students.
“Summer was a great time for this event because the students were able to take five days out of their schedule without having to worry about making up homework or tests from missed school, instead they were able to fully participate and enjoy the experience,” Meyer said. “We truly would not have been able to make this trip possible without the STEM BEST Explore funding.”