Students made many discoveries during Ag Safety Day at Barrow Elementary School.
Whitney Kizer, Sigma Alpha sister and animal science major, pictured with students.
Students
Sorority restarts annual ag safety day
With fall semester in full swing, the University of Georgia's Sigma Alpha sorority is one step closer to their next Agricultural Safety Day. Their 2008 event was held at Barrow Elementary School in the spring and exposed 440 pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students to a little bit of farm life.
They're hoping to expand to two events this school year.
At Barrow Elementary, that day of agriculture came mostly visibly in animal form. Students petted piglets, an ewe and two lambs, a calf, snakes, dairy bull calves and horses.
Some of the main events were animal and dairy science students prancing on about horse care and safety, local beekeepers revealing where honey comes from, crop and soil science professor Keith Karnok dazzling with ag magic acts, Walton EMC sizzling with electrical safety lessons, the Georgia Soil and Water Commission dropping in for a lesson on rainwater and John Deere representative Keith Rowland talking safety around round hay bales.
"Even I learned something at ag safety day," said Whitney Kizer, the Sigma Alpha sister who headed up the event. "It was a teaching experience for us as well as a learning opportunity."
Whitney is an animal science major in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Her goal for the day was not only to see smiles and excitement on the students' faces. She also wanted the elementary school's faculty to be happy they agreed to let the sorority invade their campus.
Teachers and administrators "have so much emphasis on curriculum and meeting those state standards," she said. "...The biggest thing for me, as the product of educators, was not only the great response from the parents but from the faculty. That’s what made all the difference in the world for me."
The students were still talking about the ag safety day three weeks later, and Whitney has two manila envelopes full of thank you notes the kids made.
"It was kind of like my child," Whitney said of the ag day. "I was really proud of it."
Sigma Alpha started holding ag safety days several years ago at the Animal and Dairy Science Arena on South Milledge Avenue. Then the event got shelved for two years until Whitney came along. Because of her experience with big projects, she was elected to resurface the event.
The Greenbrier High School graduate said she’s not alone in making the safety day a success, pointing to her committee members when asked how she pulled the event off. She also points to her college.
"The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is trying to expand and expose people to new things," she said. "This was big for CAES, animal and dairy science and south campus in general."
Besides various CAES departments, the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources was also present at the event, along with other corporate, public and private sponsors.
"We were dealing with people who don't know a lot about agriculture...hopefully we did a good job exposing kids to something they would never see otherwise," Whitney said.
About Sigma Alpha
In September 2000, two UGA students officially started UGA's Sigma Alpha, Alpha Omicron chapter with 20 members. The chapter now has over 60 active members.
"It's a great organization of girls who all share an interest and love for agriculture in one way or another," Whitney said.
UGA students don't have to be enrolled in CAES to be members of the sorority. They can even be both "north and south campus girls." Sorority members' majors range from animal science to political science to forestry to family and consumer science.
"We host a broad range, and everybody brings something different to the table," Whitney said.
For more information on Sigma Alpha, visit www.ugasigmaalpha.com.
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