Agriculture events bring high school students to campus
Anyone who’s ever wanted to eat French fries, pet farm animals and look at farm equipment displays before watching a Vandal football game will have the chance to do so this weekend.
Ag Days and Celebrating Idaho Agriculture are two involvement events put on by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences that jointly aim to recruit new students and engage alumni and community members.
Paulette House, the assistant director of recruiting for the college, said she expects to see between 266 and 300 high school students participate in Ag Days, which offers high school students or FFA and 4H program members the chance to explore the agriculture program at the University of Idaho. She said she was particularly excited about one of the workshops that would engage students on Friday: a food science showcase.
Photo by Steven Martine | Courtesy of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Last year’s Ag Days and Celebrating Idaho Agriculture events
“So we have faculty from WSU and UI that are going to be coming together and doing a hands-on activity with all of the Ag Day students,” she said. “They are going to focus on what food science is, and some of the careers that are involved with that.”
Alumni and Donor Relations Coordinator Carly Raska, who is the primary organizer of Celebrating Idaho Agriculture event, said while some of the events will be fun and relaxing, others, such as a panel discussion of how technology will change agriculture, are more serious.
She said the panel discussion would include five experts with experience in different areas of agriculture — such as a person who has worked in agribusiness, a member of the wheat commission and a local farmer who is the president of the Idaho Grain Producers.
“Following that, we have a dinner at the University Inn that’s open to alumni and friends, and that is celebrating Idaho Ag’s Leaders and Legends,” she said. “People that have been very influential in the success of Idaho agriculture in the past, and honoring some of Idaho’s alums.”
Raska said the events on Saturday, which are open to all who buy tickets, will include face-painting, a large farming equipment display, a farm animal petting zoo and bounce houses for children.
“It’s going to be one big celebration, there’ll be live music,” she said. “The farm animal petting zoo is pretty fun, because we have a bunch of farm animals out there for kids who maybe grew up in town to come check it out and see what farm animals look like.”
She said the events will be a type of pre-game program for the home Vandal Football game Saturday afternoon.
One highlight of the event that UI students are also invited to is the chili cook-off on Friday.
“This year is a little bit unique in that one of the events we have is actually open to current students at UI,” House said. “That’s going to be the dinner on Friday night, which is going to be facilitated by the university of Idaho food science club and sponsored by Basic American Foods,”
Raska said Celebrating Idaho Agriculture started last year as an opportunity for alumni to come back and participate in events.
Photo by Steven Martine | Courtesy of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Last year’s Ag Days and Celebrating Idaho Agriculture events
“By creating Celebrating Idaho Agriculture and continuing it on, it kind of turns into a homecoming of sorts, for our college alums to come back and interact with students,” Raska said. “And really sort of bridge that student-alumni gap that may be there.”
She said the other purpose of the celebration is to keep the Moscow community involved in agriculture because it is a major driving force in the local economy.
“Because even though we live in a rural area, sometimes it’s not necessarily understood where our food comes from, or what is grown in Idaho that we can eat,” Raska said. “I think all of our offerings happening through the weekend have a little bit of something for everyone.”
Daphne Jackson can be reached at [email protected]