Challenging the students, growing everything!

The past week has been busy (as they all seem to be!) with lots of new and interesting stuff! We have touched base with some new community partners: our local Kalamazoo County Farm Bureau board,  a local Master Gardener, and a representative from Zoetis! We continue to also receive support from Scott Paquin in the area of greenhouse management, and both opportunities and a nice donation from Paper City Development! In addition, Culver's, the local fast food chain, donated the proceeds of their "Scoops of Thanks" promotion from the area to our FFA chapters. This funding is allowing students with limited financial means to attend events like FFA National Convention, Fall Conference and various other leadership training options. For some students, this will be their first trip out of our local area! We are also hoping for some community support as Blain's Farm and Fleet in Portage (in the old Menard's building) does a hat sale fundraiser for FFA on November 3-4 from 10 am to 6 pm. For $1.00 they will sew a special patch onto your new Carhartt hat and make a donation to our local FFA chapter! We sure couldn't do what we do without so much support from our community! Thanks, everybody!





Speaking of support, we are working to re-invigorate our FFA Alumni chapter. We would like to have an active alumni chapter in support of both the Vicksburg and KRESA/countywide FFA chapters. You don't have to have been an FFA member to join the alumni chapter, just be willing to support the mission of FFA to provide opportunities for Premier Leadership, Personal Growth, and Career Success for all students. Members support their chapters by being mentors, skills coaches, events judges, and fundraisers. So even if you never wore the blue jacket (or can't zip yours anymore), please contact me at nheikes@vicksburgschools.org for more information and to be notified of meetings!

Animal Science and Animal Technology students wrapped up their poultry unit by dissecting chickens last week. they were pretty fascinated by being able to see all of the anatomic structures and their relationships to one another, and most commented that it looked a lot different than the diagrams! 

Veterinary Science students completed their unit on the musculskeletal system, and worked with bones from cattle, deer, hogs and other animals. they move on to cardiovascular anatomy and physiology this week. They have also been hard at work socializing the 2 newest kittens, Tuxedo and Winky. The remaining cats are doing well; we hope to have them spayed and neutered soon so they can be placed in their forever homes!

Winky's getting playful!

Francis is quite the handful! He gets stuck atop the cages, falls into the trash can, pounces on anything and anybody he can find, annoys the other cats endlessly, and tries Momma's patience!

What a difference a week makes! Duckling has grown a lot! He can see out of his tote now, and has moved to larger quarters in the greenhouse.

Duckling a week ago.

Play this with the sound on: Duckling imprinted on humans, so he wants to be with people all the time. Listen to what happens when the humans "disappear!"

Bean has decided that she deserves to be treated as the queen of the known universe! She is so sweet and cuddly!

Luna keeps her eye out for unruly students. She appears to be quite pregnant!

Wildlife and Natural Resources class spent the week investigating Climate Change, and evaluating data supporting various claims. After some general information and discussion, they looked at various graphs, interpreted them, and decided how relevant and reliable they were. The following day, students were presented spreadsheets with data about lake freeze and thaw for 3 lakes, including Gull Lake near here. They used Excel to graph the data points, find a trendline, and calculate its slope and how closely it fit the data points. They then analyzed their graphs for meaning, relevance and reliability and used the results to support or refute climate change arguments. After a quick introduction to renewable energy, they set to work designing and making scale drawings of eco-friendly houses, which they will present to the class and comment on at the end of this week.

Horticulture continues to be active both in and out of the greenhouse. Students' plants are growing very well, and some have opted to re-plant or plant something new, while others have focused upon investigating the best ways to transplant their seedlings. In addition, the old landscaping in front (south) of the greenhouse has been removed, and beneath the landscape fabric students encountered a mix of rocks and construction sand that had compacted to a near-concrete density. They took the initiative to obtain soil samples, and are in the process of loosening the existing soil and mixing it with more organic material to produce a soil capable of supporting plant life. We have finished our unit on soil, and are looking at classification of plants, and their structure.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, I will be at FFA National Convention, along with 6 students and 67,000 other FFA members! Looking forward to a great time! The theme is "Just One", focusing upon the difference that just one person can make in the world. Check out the Convention website https://convention.ffa.org/