DELANO FFA
Our Growing Garden
Submitted by Jessica Serrano
Our chapter had a goal to start our own garden, and last fall we achieved just
that. We started small, with just pumpkins, and we later expanded to a variety
of lettuce, cabbage, beans, and more. We rely on the help of our members to
transplant, maintain, and harvest our garden. A majority of what is harvested
is donated to our local distribution center for families in need and we recently
started severing our vegetables at our school’s cafeteria. Our next goal is to
expand our garden to fruits, fl owers and corn.
WESTWOOD FFA
FFA Week Festivities
FFA Week in small town Westwood, California becomes a week fi lled with
classroom visits, dress up days, and fi nally our First Annual FFA Ag Olympics.
The chapter offi cers made this whole week not only fun for present and future
members to enjoy, but threw in an extension of what FFA has brought to them.
Silly games such as Hungry Hungry Hippos and toilet plunger fi shing brought
out everyone’s silliest nature, while team building games like the softball bucket
challenge showed off the cooperative spirit of FFA itself. FFA week showed our
high school, middle school and elementary school kids that no matter what their
plan in the future pertains to, they will always have a future in FFA.
LOS BANOS FFA
Los Banos Food Science Elective
Transforms Home Economics
Submitted by Sophia Castro
A FFA Agricultural Food Science elective at Los Banos High School has been
under massive renovations for the past six years and is fi nally transformed from
a simple Home Economics room to a Food Science Laboratory. LBHS received
$289,000 through the Central Region Agriculture Pathway Grant and from this,
$40,000 was specifi cally allocated to the Ag Food Science class to purchase
commercial grade kitchen tools. In addition, the grant money funded food
handling and safety curriculum through an online educational program. A LBHS FFA Agricultural Food Science instructor explains that participation in
the course is going to, “Allow our students to obtain a Food Safety Certifi cate that will help them in the future for employment and meets the school’s
pathway requirements.” Projects in the class include working the self-sustaining garden. Peppers are hand picked from the garden located on campus
and then taken to the food science laboratory where they are cleaned, cut, and separated.
{ Continued on page 14 }
California FFANEWS • PAGE 12 • Summer 2017