MURFREESBORO — The
young students came to MTSU from all parts of Rutherford County: La Vergne,
Rockvale, Lascassas, Smyrna and Murfreesboro.
Nearly 900 youngsters in all, from pre-kindergarten through
second-graders, attended. They came for the second MTSU Agricultural Education
Spring Fling April 14 in the Tennessee Livestock Center on Greenland Drive.
Led by professor Alanna Vaught, her nearly 30-member
agritourism class prepared for a project that is both fun and educational for
the visiting students, most of who have grown up in the city and are not
familiar with farming and agriculture.
To view video from the event, visit http://youtu.be/Y0MHqULkmqU.
"It went very well," said Vaught, whose crew of
volunteers — MTSU students, family friends and School of Agribusiness and
Agriscience colleagues — helped make it run smoothly.
Eliza McQuaid, 7, a second-grader at Walter Hill School,
liked the animals.
“My favorite was the horse,” she said, “because it had big
eyes and it was cute.”
Two of McQuaid’s takeaways from the event were that “animals
give us food” and that “if we didn’t have any food, we would die.”
Audrey Breneman, 7, a first-grader at Thurman Francis Arts
Academy in Smyrna, liked that she and the other children could play in the
Barnyard Playground. There they found two straw mazes and other activities.
As for farming, Breneman learned that “some fruits grow on
trees and some vegetables grow in the ground.” She found the Little Acres area
was fun because they could “pick some fruits and vegetables.”
Other schools bringing children to the event included La
Vergne Lake Elementary; Cedar Grove Elementary in Smyrna; Rockvale Elementary;
Lascassas Elementary; and Blackman Elementary, Homer Pittard Campus School,
McFadden School of Excellence and Middle Tennessee Christian School in
Murfreesboro.
A group, which is part of the Theophany Homeschool
Cooperative, also attended.
Andriana Lamb, an MTSU alumna who is retail development
manager for the Rutherford Farmers Co-Op Murfreesboro store, told the
youngsters “why the farmer comes to the co-op and the different jobs a farmer
has.”
Alumni including Wesley Foster and Daniel Prior returned as
volunteers.
Foster, who lives in Woodbury, Tennessee, teaches
agriculture at Smith County High School in Carthage, Tennessee. He brought five
of his FFA students to help assist.
Three more FFA students came with teacher Mike Swafford of
Cascade High School in Wartrace, Tennessee.
A 2014 graduate now an ordained minister, Prior returned to
announce and assist with scheduling — an area in which he helped Vaught in
2014.
“It was a blessing to come back and help,” Prior said.
All of the teachers and schools left with educational
materials — crayons, coloring book, pencils and more.
To learn more about registering for the 2016 Ag Education
Spring Fling, call Vaught at 615-898-2523 or email Alanna.Vaught@mtsu.edu.
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