CCSD news: FFA Week and Academic Olympics

Churchill County High School

Last week was National FFA week. The FFA provides the next generation of leaders who will change the world.

As the nation's top school-based youth leadership development organization, the FFA helps young people meet new agricultural challenges by encouraging members to develop their unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of career pathways.

“This youth organization not only helps us young adults with leadership skills, personal growth, and career success but we are also able to build strong, lasting friendships through agriculture education,” said student Abbigaile Ealey.

Student McKinsey Ryon echoed the comment.

“FFA is so much more than just a program for kids to show animals,” he said. “It is an organization that gives everyone many great opportunities to succeed in life and prepare us for our future.”

FFA members are future leaders, food suppliers, innovators and more.

“They really are the future and I work every day to stress the importance of this,” said FFA adviser Aspen Johnson.

FFA students at CCHS feel very strongly about the FFA program and used this week as an opportunity to inform and teach others about FFA and its importance.

“Our goal throughout National FFA week was to really let others know the role FFA plays in everyone's lives and how important it is to us and to others – we are all connected through agriculture,” said student Allie Fait.

Student Liam Few agreed.

“FFA is for everyone, no matter whether you have a big farm or live in an urban apartment, you can still gain something from FFA and learn more about agriculture and all that it encompasses,” he added.

Churchill County Middle School

The CCMS Academic Olympic team took first place at their final Academic Olympic Competition in Reno on Feb. 8.

Students Jordan Anderson, Alexander Sorenson, Caleb West, Lucas Chappell, Kelten Rowland, Keagan Coday and Aidan Rowe competed against nine other schools in the Academic Olympic competition and came in on top.

“Our team started practice in December and our first meet was on Jan. 18. We have had four meets and we have been able to hold on to first place since after the second meet,” said team coach Maureen Park.

At competitions, teams can earn up to 36 points per meet and the CCMS team finished with 123.5 points out of 144 points.

“I am super proud of this team and their hard work and dedication. They did awesome,” Park said.

Numa

With the generosity of Banner Churchill Community Hospital, students in Kristina Lee’s class were able to transform their classroom into a hospital in order to practice a variety of math, reading, and science skills.

Lee reached out to BCCH and explained to them that she had a vision of transforming her classroom into a hospital for a day for her students.

“I asked if they would be able to donate some disposable gowns and hair nets and they suggested that we might also like the sterile booties and masks, and had everything delivered to us,” Lee said.

Once the classroom was transformed, students used the hospital setting to practice skills they had been working on. Students added and subtracted fractions to figure out medicine measurements, used context clues and text evidence to diagnose and plan treatment for patients, and performed “surgery” by finding and matching examples of chemical and physical changes in the “body” (a tray of water beads).

“The students had such a blast and we are so grateful for the support from Banner to make this happen,” Lee said.

E.C. Best

FFA students from CCHS came in and read agriculture-related books to students on Tuesday. They also discussed and explained to the yonder students what FFA is and its importance.

“The students chose to read The Beeman and Sleep Tight Farm because they are both books that open up quite a bit of conversation related to animals and agriculture,” said FFA adviser Aspen Johnson.

CCHS FFA student Kara Herbert said it’s because of FFA that she felt confident enough to go to another school to share her knowledge of agriculture and FFA.

“It has helped me become more confident in speaking with people I have not met before and has pushed me out of my comfort zone in many ways,” she said. “Whether that be talking to people older than me, teaching younger students, or talking with students from different chapters.”

The younger students enjoyed having the FFA students come in and the opportunity to talk with older students who they can look up to and learn from.

“It was so fun to hear them read to us and show us the animals in the book and teach us about all the animals. They also talked about how they get to set up a petting zoo at their school and that was cool too,” said third-grader Shia Downs.

Lahontan

First-grade students in Crystal Cabral’s class spent three weeks researching and writing about penguins, then making a presentation. The students worked with partners to learn how to create Google slides that they then presented to their families and classmates.

Cabral said she feels strongly about doing assignments like this because it is important for young students to begin learning to speak in front of others, as well as learning how to use technology.

“The confidence my students gained was amazing. We debriefed after this assignment and the students shared how nervous they were at first, but then how proud they felt once they did it,” Cabral said.

Student Jaxson Riley thought this project was really cool.

“I enjoyed my partner and working together to do it and I really liked the pictures and the backgrounds too,” he added.

Northside Early Learning Center

Students, staff, and families gathered in the cafeteria last week for a sweetheart breakfast served by Churchill County School Board members and school leadership representatives.

This is one of the many family engagement events hosted at NELC.

“We enjoy having many opportunities throughout the year to invite our parents in. It is a good way for them to see their students in their school environment and creates positive relationships between parents, students, and staff,” Amanda Lister said.

The next big family engagement event will be their Spring Fling on April 27. Parents are encouraged to join students and staff for an afternoon of gardening and literacy.