Alyssa Trombetti
Contributing writer
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Students in the Hutson of Agriculture visited Murray Elementary School to teach the children about planting seeds and inspire an interest in agriculture.

Seniors Mika Hankins, Cassity Mitchell and Presley Woodrum and junior Alyssa Trombetti have coordinated over the past several weeks to prepare lesson plans for the elementary school children. For the rest of the semester, they plan to visit the children to look at the progress of the plants and to discuss the importance of agriculture.

Trombetti said the first lesson consisted of various teaching methods that were put together by the students.

“Throughout our lesson plan, we used auditorial, visual and hands-on learning methods,” Trombetti said “By using these methods, we were able to appeal to all the students and keep them engaged, so we could accomplish our goal with visiting the children.”

Mitchell talked about the goals of teaching the students at Murray Elementary School.

“The goal was to have a positive impact on the students about agriculture,” Mitchell said. “It is crucial to start at a young age and get them engaged and passionate about an amazing opportunity.”

Hankins comes from an agricultural background consisting of tobacco farming and raising beef cattle. Because everyone does not come from this background, Hankins said there is importance in teaching children about agriculture. 

“Knowing where your food comes from, how it is grown and the labor of love that goes into it is very important for people to understand,” Hankins said. “It all starts with teaching these children.”

After teaching the first lesson to children on planting seeds, many teachers, faculty and staff complimented the agriculture students on the positive impression that was left with the children. 

Mitchell said the students were very enthusiastic about planting seeds and learning about agriculture.

“The students were so excited when we left knowing they could watch their plants,” Mitchell said. “They were more excited knowing we were coming back to teach them more about the topic of agriculture.”  

When asked about their favorite part about teaching the students, Hankins said she enjoyed the opportunity to teach the children about agriculture.

“I loved teaching the kids at MES because I got to see the excitement in their eyes,” Hankins said. “It was something special that most of them had never had a part in and I am glad that we were able to help expose them to it. It was like no other.”

Within a few weeks, the Hutson School of Agriculture students will revisit Murray Elementary School to check on the progress of the plants. The next lesson will be identifying the parts of the plants.

To follow the progress of the School of Agriculture students and their lessons with the Murray Elementary School students, find them on Facebook at @MabelsGardenMKY.