Home Grown: Students take on different “fields” in agriculture

Across Yuma County, there are many fields that are used to grow different types of crops. But did you know that there are also many job fields within agriculture?

In today’s Home Grown, we meet some smart middle school students that are using their creative skills and imagination to explore the various opportunities within ag.

The U of A Gadsden camp partners the University of Arizona with the Gadsden school district.

The camp aims at career exploration by providing teacher training and in-depth camps.

” They rotate in different areas such as ag. nutrition, engineering, and computers. It’s basically for them to explore different careers especially in agriculture, ” said Dr. Baleshka Brenes , director of agriculture programs at the University of Arizona.

A common misunderstanding for some students is that working in agriculture means you are only working in the fields.

” It’s more than that. There are so many options as you can see. There’s ag. technology, food safety, entomology, PCA , CCA . So we want them to know the different career options that they have, ” said Dr. Brenes .

Throughout the week, the kids are able to put their knowledge to the test by identifying soil erosion, making healthy choices for a menu they create, learning to code, and building catapults.

As a middle schooler, doing camps on a college campus like this helps inspire them to consider different fields within agriculture.

“I believe that this is where they are starting to frame, and they are more flexible and open to learning about different areas and careers. So I think it’s the perfect time to start that career exploration, ” said Dr. Brenes .

“Essentially it’s the teachers high that everybody gets when you can see the light bulb come on over the students head. When they struggle at first when it’s challenging, but then when they finally get it, that’s genuinely gratifying, ” said Samuel Peffers , lecturer in systems and industrial engineering. “At least with our colleagues in educational research and scholarship tell us is that students at this age of development almost without realizing it, they start to track into a particular career field,” he continued.

One thing was certain, being on a college campus was a big deal for these kids.

“It feels good it feels cool,” said 8th grader Ruben Esquer .

“This is, I don’t know how to explain it. To be close to college kids while me just being an eighth grader, I mean it’s a great opportunity. The school is huge compared to a normal school that an eighth-grade kid would be at, ” said Miranda.

“This is my first time on a college campus so it was weird at first, but it’s huge in here and it’s really cool to see college students and the look they give us like ‘who are these people?’ and then our minds we basically talk. And it’s really fun being around here because there’s a lot of space and it’s a great opportunity to be here, ” said Guerrero.

And if it wasn’t already convincing enough, some students now even have ideas of what they want to be when they grow up!

“This is really inspiring because at first, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be, but now, I’m going to be a coder!” said Miranda.