Youngsters Discover Life on a Farm at Annual MTSU Ag Education Spring Fling
Melinda Crook marveled at the joy and fun the schoolchildren from Mitchell-Neilson Elementary and other schools were having recently in the Tennessee Livestock Center on the Middle Tennessee State University campus.
At the MTSU School of Agriculture Ag Education Spring Fling, Crook, assistant principal at Mitchell-Neilson, knows her school’s youngsters live in downtown Murfreesboro and likely have never been to a farm.
At the event, where an MTSU agritourism class of 21 students oversee a series of stations — “Little Acres” with vegetables, milk and animals, farm equipment, barnyard playground and more — that entertain the pre-K through third graders for two hours on a warm spring day Tuesday, April 16.
Children traveled from Middle Tennessee Christian School, Campus School, Roy Waldron, Smyrna Primary, Kittrell and Mitchell-Neilson for the field trip that included crafts, bee and honey area, a hay maze and baby chicks.
“Our students have never seen anything like this. This is a great experience for them,” said Crook, watching them collect plastic fruit and vegetables with their pails in Little Acres before getting a small cup of MTSU Creamery chocolate milk. “We’re grateful for this opportunity.”
Olivia Hart, 7, a Mitchell-Neilson first grader, said she had “seen a lot of hay.” When asked what had been fun, she said “going through the maze (of hay bales) and I’m excited about seeing the baby chicks. It has been an awesome day, and my Momma (Andraiana Jefferson) is here.”
Leading the agritourism class, junior Sarah Pfenning, a plant and soil science major with two prior degrees and planning to pursue her master’s in agricultural education leadership, called the event “organized chaos, but with fun. I spoke to some parents and they appreciate the event happening because they probably won’t ever visit a farm again.”
MTSU senior pre-veterinary major Calliope Fisher of Rockvale, Tennessee, and an event volunteer, said she had “many memorable conversations with kids regarding chickens and their favorite thing about them, to which most of them replied chicken nuggets. Such a joy to be around those kids.”
Before students began arriving by bus, Alanna Vaught, event director and School of Agriculture lecturer, told her agritourism class that “today is going to change somebody’s life and hundreds of kids’ lives for the better, and there is not anything much more rewarding than that.”
Rutherford County Farm Bureau, Rutherford County Farmers Co-Op and an MTSU Public Service Grant provided support for the event. Nearly 90 volunteers assisted.
The School of Agriculture is one of 11 College of Basic and Applied Sciences departments. To learn more, visit https://mtsu.edu/agriculture/index.php or call 615-898-2523.
