Sulphur Springs FFA Members
Headed to State Fair Ag Science Competition
By: Bobby McDonald
Activities at the Sulphur Springs Vocational Agriculture Building were in "full speed" on Monday evening, as students "put the final touches" on their displays, answered questions from practice judges, and told about the Ag Sciences projects that they were taking to the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas, on Tuesday. "It's the annual State Fair of Texas Ag Sciences Project Fair," explained Vocational Agriculture Teacher, Amber Norris. "We send students to the prestigious State Fair Contest, where they will be competing with youth from across the state for scholarships. And, last year, we had two students who won $1000.00 scholarships in the competition, so they encouraged students to enter the contest and work hard for the competition, this year."
Students have completed projects in a number of Ag Science areas, ranging from experiments with bacteria in lettuce and orgainic vs non-organic products; to an ionization of water to reduce respiratory stress in weaned calves; to a floriculture project that tested the best methods of preserving cut floral arrangements; to measuring the genotype of a farm flock of sheep to make certain that recessive genes are not reproduced in the flock's breeding program; and even a system designed to "clean up" oil spills, such as the BP Oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's a great, great learning experience for the students, as they not only learn about their specific scientific subject, but they must learn how to display their data, and then be able to answer questions and make a public presentation to the judges," related Norris. "These are life skills that they will use for the rest of their lives, in the job marketplace!"
Best wishes for these outstanding students and hopefully they will we returning with a number of scholarships, as they return from the State Fair Competition!
Best of Luck at Competition,
Sulphur Springs FFA!!!
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