The Future Farmers of Princeville

By Greenlee Pulley and Leah Wieland

The FFA Strengthening Ag Committee is bringing a semester end to their Pen Pal Project with the grade school students with a Christmas Party. This project was started last year by the FFA. The idea is to bring Agriculture to the Grade School, and to give the younger students an opportunity to see what their high school experience could bring. An Ag student can sign up at the beginning of the year to be a part of this project and then will get assigned to a 3rd grade student.  According to Mrs. Bayless, Grade School Principal, it is an excellent way to bring the grade school and high school together, which makes the sense of community in Princeville stronger. 

Dakota Maguire, head  of the Pen Pal Project this year, says the kind of impact you can have is really special. “While it may not be important to some high schoolers, it makes the kids’ day to get these letters and it's like the best part of their week and their school year.”

We went over to the grade school to get some of the kids' perspectives to see what they thought about the opportunity to talk to the high school Ag students. Channing Palmer says his favorite part was getting to find out more about the high schoolers and what they were like. His Pen Pal, Zach Menold, concurred on the subject. “I think it's a great experience to get to know the grade school students and it gives them something to look forward to when they get into high school, even though it's a few years out, it just gets them to start thinking about Ag related classes.”

“I like that we get to find a little bit about them and they get to find a little bit about us,” reports Gabe Stickhost, of the grade school. Needless to say all of the students are really enjoying this unique experience to talk with some of the schoolers, and to learn about fun activities that could be in their future high school years.