BY KARISSA MILLER

The sun shone brightly as hundreds of Iredell County kindergartners traded their classrooms for the sights and sounds of the farm during the annual “Wake Up to Ag Day.”

The event, a collaborative effort between Iredell-Statesville Schools’ high school agricultural programs, aims to bridge the gap between young students and the origins of their food.

Austin Rash, an agriculture teacher at Lake Norman High School, explained that every kindergartner in the county receives an invitation to the two-day event.

“It’s been wild, but everything’s been good. We’ve been blessed with beautiful weather today,” Rash said.

Throughout the day, students rotated through various stations designed to spark an early interest in the industry. In one barn, children met different types of livestock, while other areas focused on essential safety lessons.

Bryant York, a North Iredell High School agriculture teacher, said students learn where their food and fiber come from.

“We love seeing them get excited about agriculture,” York said.

While the kindergartners learned about the farm, the event also served as an important leadership opportunity for high school students, who took the lead, creating their own lesson plans and presentations.

“On the high school side of things, we love seeing our students step into that leadership role and work on their public speaking skills and their advocacy skills,” York said.

Jess Eisele with Progressive Agriculture Foundation said the organization’s safety day program is their signature program.

“It focuses on safety for all youth, in a hands-on way, so that’s why it works really well here,” Eisele said. “The curriculum focuses on learning from a sound or experience. We have over 30 different safety topics from farm equipment safety to sun safety, mental health, wellbeing and it really runs the gamut.”

Laura Elmore, Iredell County Cooperative Extension director, said that most of these kindergartners’ grandparents probably didn’t even farm at this point.

“We have so much development in the county and we like to let them get their hands on something where they can see where their food’s actually coming from. It’s more than just what mom brought home. Somebody’s behind it growing it and producing and processing everything that they get,” Elmore said.

High school FFA members led hands-on stations for younger students, blending education with engagement.

“I just think it’s really important for the students to know where this comes from,” said Tyler Knox, an FFA student leader. “The clothes we have on our body, the food that we eat—it all comes from the farm. It doesn’t just come from the store.”

Carson Ball, a senior and FFA leader, said the impact goes both ways.

“I think it matters because not only does it help the kindergarteners get that little information about agriculture—to plant that seed further on down the line—but it also helps the high schoolers with their public speaking,” Ball said.

Mountaire Cares sponsored lunch for the event and was on site volunteering.

“We’re the quiet giant. We are wholesale, not retail, so a lot of people haven’t heard about us … So today we have one of our feed trucks. We have a feed mill over off Weston Street, and so this truck is used to haul five different kinds of feed to our chickens in the area. Everything from starter feed to finish feed,” explained Sasha Lucas, Mountaire Cares manager.

“We love to give back to our community,” she added.

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