Donalsonville, Georgia — On April 21, the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District sponsored Destination Ag for second grade students at Seminole County Elementary School. Destination Ag gives students the opportunity to interactively learn the importance of agriculture and natural resources in their daily lives. During the two-hour event, participants rotated through four different thirty-minute sessions that took an in-depth approach to agriculture and environmental awareness.
Through an erosion simulation table, students defined erosion, learned about the effects of weather on erosion, and explored how erosion can be reduced.
Seminole County students explored the world of pollinators and learned about their vital importance in agriculture in the “Let’s Bee Pollinators” rotation.
In the “Swept Away” session, attendees learned how weather, specifically water and wind, can cause changes to the environment and observed wind and water erosion using an erosion simulation table.
The “Georgia Georegions” session gave students the opportunity to explore Georgia’s geographic regions and discuss differences in agriculture, plants, and animals. Additionally, students were able to see a gopher tortoise and learn about the needed adaptations for survival.
In the fourth rotation of “Fire, Is It Good or Bad?” the second graders discovered the world of fire ecology and the importance of fire to an ecosystem.
Previously, the program has only been available for on-site field trips for Berrien, Irwin, Tift, Cook and Colquitt Counties. In 2019, a dynamic partnership between Destination Ag and the FRSWCD expanded the program for additional counties in southwest Georgia.
During the Destination Ag event, Seminole County Elementary second grade students learn about Georgia's geographic regions and the native animals like the gopher tortoise.
“Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District takes great pride in sponsoring educational opportunities to youth in the District and Destination Ag is a great fit to provide interactive agriculture awareness programming,” says Lindsey Hayes, Director of Operation for the FRSWCD. “The second-grade students at Seminole County Elementary really enjoyed exploring new things with the hands-on lessons and interacting with the Destination Ag team. With the many restrictions due to Covid-19 most schools haven’t been able to take field-trips off campus, bringing Destination Ag directly to the school gave the students and teachers an outlet for outside enrichment opportunities.”
The hands-on learning experience is hosted by Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture. Destination Ag programming targets Georgia’s Standards of Excellence, and the College and Career Readiness Performance Index for Pre-K through 5th grade students. Learn more about Destination Ag at https://gma.abac.edu/education/destination-ag/.
The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District is comprised of farmers, landowners, and community leaders that are dedicated to the conservation, wise use, and protection of natural resources in the Flint River Basin. Learn more about the District at flintriverswcd.org.