CCSD news: FFA, egg hunts, and plant science

CHURCHILL COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

This year the 95th annual Nevada Future Farmers of America State Convention was held at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Nugget Resort in Sparks from March 25-28.

Churchill County competed in various leadership development events and career development events. students competed in veterinary science, creed speaking, prepared public speaking, meats evaluation and technology and employment skills.

Seveal students can home with awards. Caitlyn Dock was elected the 2024-2025 Nevada FFA state president, Liam Few was awarded his state degree, Allie Fait was awarded star zone farmer, Madi Gregory received first place for prepared public speaking, Karlie Simper placed third for creed speaking and Jackson Barbee, Dana Buckmaster, Allie Fait and Madi Gregory had third high team for meats evaluation and technology.

As the FFA adviser, I want to congratulate everyone who competed and tried their hardest at the Nevada FFA state convention this year. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you and watch you grow.

— Aspen Johnson, Churchill County FFA adviser

CHURCHILL COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL

On March 29 during lunch, the CCMS Student Council met to discuss after-Spring Break activities.

Some items on the agenda included an upcoming Reno Aces educational day field trip, fundraising ideas, a student council Friday dinner, an end-of-the-year dance and upcoming elections for the next school year.

At this meeting, the CCMS Honor Society adviser Kathy Buckmaster was also in attendance. 

Both groups are interested in further collaborations with one another to unite CCMS.

"Honor Society is really excited to collaborate with the student council on a school-wide drive to collect items for our new CCMS closet. We are so happy to be able to help out students in need by gathering personal hygiene items and clothing to stock in the closet," Buckmaster said. 

— CCMS student council adviser Courtney Aguilera

NUMA 

Fifth-grade teachers, Arantxa Kovis and Kristina Lee invited the Churchill County High School Plant Science class to Numa.

CCHS Plant Science instructor Jaime Sammons and students Abigail Lacow, Carter McBee, Taylor Sweetser and Rihanna Garcia spoke to the students about plants and then helped them all plant their own. Students were able to choose from wasabi arugula, lettuce, potato, and chamomile. This activity is part of a project-based learning unit Kovis and Lee are working through with their students about local agriculture.

“We are studying food chains, Earth's spheres and the preservation/protection of resources. To accomplish this, students will design their own agricultural-related business and learn about the process of applying for a business loan,” Lee said.

The students are currently in the research phase as they learn about what it takes to own and operate an ag-related business and will present their business proposals at the end of the project. Both Kovis and Lee have been working on developing this project since last summer.

“The plant science class is one of many guest speakers we will have throughout the project and we actually got the idea to invite them in as part of a collaboration with Fallon Food Hub. We also invited Daniel Perazzo who discussed dairy farming and Jeremy Sorenson to share about beekeeping,” Lee said.

After spring break this project will be back in full swing. Jessi Eckert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will come to talk to the students about applying for agriculture business loans, and the CCHS FFA will be hosting an ag day.

The students also will visit Cottonwood Farms and the Dairy Farmers of America milk processing plant to see the whole process from raising the cattle to processing the milk.

 “We are so grateful to all of the community members and businesses that have helped bring this project to life and look forward to seeing what our students develop and learn over the course of the experience,” Lee said.

E.C. BEST  

Students in Melissa Humphrey’s second-grade class finished their informative writing unit that focused on the ability to write an informative/explanatory text with an introduction, facts and a concluding sentence.

They started by choosing an animal they were interested in learning about and then had to research their animal's habitat, what they looked like, and other interesting facts about the animal. Using their research they wrote their rough draft and edited the rough draft looking for mistakes. From there, students wrote their final draft. The last step was to draw a diagram and show where their animal lives on a map.

“It was fun to see the students get really into what they were learning about. They would all share fascinating facts they were learning about their animals with each other and were blown away. When we come back from spring break they will be presenting their animal to their classmates,” Humphrey said.

LAHONTAN 

Students in Erika Stanford’s kindergarten class had an Easter egg hunt last week.

However, there was a little twist.

Students had to collect as many eggs as they could find and then before they were allowed to open them they had to read the sight word on the egg or solve the addition problem.

 “I wanted to do something fun for my students before they left for spring break, but I also wanted them to have to keep learning as well. They did fantastic and some of the kids who have been struggling were really working at it so they could open their egg. By the end, everyone got to open all of their eggs,” Stanford said.

NORTHSIDE EARLY LEARNING CENTER

For the last four weeks, students in Octavia Merritt’s class have been waiting to see what would come out of the eggs they decorated and have been keeping warm every day during school. Well, they hatched chicks.  

“We talked about how we take care of the eggs and keep them warm as well as guessed what may come out of them. This was a great way for us to learn how to care for our things, how to be patient, as well as learn how to sit in our chairs, and follow our table instructions as we sit,” Merritt said.