CAMDEN, Tenn. (March. 24, 2023) – Farm Day was held at Camden Elementary School on Friday, March 24, in honor of National Agriculture Day in the gym and parking area. Students in every grade at the school gained deeper knowledge about agriculture with a hands-on approach that included farm equipment, knowledge stations, and presentations.
“Our goal for Farm Day was to provide our students with two things,” said the event organizer, Stacey Hicks, a second-grade teacher at Camden. “We wanted them to have an experience and a memory. We wanted them to learn several different aspects of the agriculture field while planting a seed early on with our students that may help them one day become interested in a career or hobby in the field of agriculture.”
Students could walk around and see various farm equipment, including tractors, fertilizer spreaders, and sprayers. Students then participated in four different farm stations along with a presentation from local beekeepers. They explained beehives and honeybees and how they create hives and honey.
UT Extension Agent Heather Smith discussed different types of fruits and vegetables found on a farm and parts of the plant at a plant science station during the event. An animal science station run by UT Extension Agent Crystal Floyd discussed various farm animals and their purposes, such as animal cycles and food products.
Another station offered a hands-on planting station, where students put on gardening gloves, grabbed a gardening pot, and dug into a bunk feeder full of soil. They learned how to fill their cups with soil, plant a cantaloupe seed, and water their plants before experiencing a virtual farm tour in their classrooms. All the students received coloring books and could take their own plant home.
Betty Jordan, Benton County BOLLD Grant Director, was also in attendance with the school system’s Words on Wheels (WOW) van, stocked with books. Each student present at the gathering received a free book to take home.
Hicks and her husband are active cattle and hay farmers, which is how the idea for Farm Day came about. She is on the board at Benton County UT Extension and is a Benton County Livestock Committee member.
“After attending several agriculture meetings recently, I began to hear that local farmers were leaving the farming business more often than I was hearing of new individuals entering into it,” shared Hicks. “During one of the meetings, I texted my principal about having an agriculture day at school. She immediately replied, ‘Absolutely!’”
Many local businesses and people helped make Farm Day possible, including State Farm Insurance, UT Extension, United Farm and Home CO-OP, Farm Bureau of Benton County, Waste Management, Kentucky Lake Beekeepers (Bernie Leslie, Tim Buchanan, and James Hinton), and LGW Farms.
“I’m so thankful to be a part of a community that wants to see our children learn and grow,” Hicks added. “They are all giving our students opportunities that many other schools or communities simply do not have!”
Benton County Schools operates six schools and the Benton County Career and Technical Center. For more information about this event held by Camden Elementary School, contact Stacey Hicks, Second Grade Teacher, at (731) 584-6111 or email stacey.hicks@bcos.org.