The first Progressive Agricultural Safety Day was such a big success, Lampeter-Strasburg (L-S) High School's Garden Spot FFA is already looking forward to the next one.

Torrential downpours did not dampen the spirits of the 220 fifth-graders who attended the event at the West Lampeter Fairgrounds on May 9.

"The students were having a really great time," said L-S freshman Ashlynn Frey. "They were getting into the stations, and they were answering all the questions. They were very enthusiastic and enjoyed the hands-on activities."

Katie Ranck, one of two Garden Spot FFA advisers, stated she was happy with the way all the students handled the soggy conditions. "The fifth-graders were troupers with the rain, and they were smiling ear to ear," said Ranck. "We're thankful for the teachers who led them over, and I am proud of the way everyone adapted to make the day happen."

She was also grateful to hold the event at the fairgrounds. "It's a community space that's very ag-based and rich in ag history," said Ranck. "It was a neat way to see that all come together."

Garden Spot FFA also holds a third-grade holiday workshop and an ag literacy week in March for students in kindergarten through second grades. There is a middle school FFA program for students in sixth through eighth grades. "Fifth grade is a group we really haven't talked to, so it was really neat to be able to connect with them before they enter middle school and started hearing about the Junior FFA," Ranck said.

Garden Spot FFA adviser Holly Oberholtzer learned about safety day while attending a national convention. L-S sophomores Landon Giberson and Trent Thomas were charged with bringing the idea to fruition.

"We felt like we wanted to tap in to our fifth-grade population here and show them a different angle of content we teach, as well as content within agriculture," Ranck said. "We tapped on the shoulders of our co-chairs (Trent and Landon) and said, 'Let's see if we can make this happen.'"

Garden Spot FFA used the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day curriculum. Ranck and Oberholtzer underwent training to be able to implement the stations accurately and safely and then adapted it to meet the needs of the L-S community.

"We wanted to show students that agriculture looks at producer and consumer knowledge," said Ranck. "I think the safety day showcased that and introduced (the younger students) to not only to tractor and livestock safety, but food safety, fire safety, hearing safety, and electrical safety."

Seven of the nine stations were led by community members and entities: Hoober Inc., Refton Fire Company, Bridlepath Equine Center, JK Mechanical, Penn State Extension Food Science, Metzler Home Builders, and Brooke and Kim Rubincam.

"It was neat to see (Garden Spot FFA members) connect with the businesses and communicate what our expectations were and also asking them to bring in their expertise," Ranck said.

Landon added, "I think one thing we did really well this year is we were responsive to what the kids were thinking. If we saw they needed energy, we tried to give them something to build off of, and I think that helped to combat the weather."

Fifth-graders were given a drawstring bag filled with safety items such as safety glasses, earplugs, vests, whistles, tape measures, and first aid kits. That was made possible by donations from Lowe's, Benner Insurance, Landis Heritage Insurance, Peterbilt, Legacy Landscape, and YZ Lancaster.

Trent spearheaded that effort. "It was a whole new learning experience for me to go out and talk to companies and see how they were willing to commit to the community," he said.

Ranck applauded her students. "As these guys are young leaders in our organization, they were tasked with their first event to plan for the FFA," she said. "It was very neat to see them interact with our community and businesses and put a plan into action."

Ashlynn noted she was pleased to see Garden Spot FFA members establish a bond with the younger students. "This is way to help them learn a little bit more about agriculture and introduce them to what FFA is so they know that could be an option for them later on in their lives. They can learn not only about agriculture and safety but also about leadership and growing in this organization."