Thursday, April 14, 2011

Das visits Santa Ynez Valley Union High School

and gets a special tour of their AG program.
The Santa Ynez Valley Union High School FFA chapter received a special hour-long visit April 8 from Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, who got an overview of the agricultural program and a tour of the school’s welding shop, horticulture garden, green house and livestock area.


Williams was greeted at the school’s flagpole by two ranking members in full-dress uniforms, the chapter’s President Emily Shimamura and Secretary Kylin Costa, who guided him to a classroom where he played student, while vice president Katie Enticknap, Costa and group historian Maryury Diaz showed a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the agricultural department program.
Chartered in 1932, the local FAA (Future Farmers of America) focuses on cultivating an interest in agriculture; above all, the aim is to create leaders, whether they end up in agriculture or ag-related fields, such as landscaping, the floral industry and veterinary medicine. This year, about 200 students are participating in the program, which is run through the school’s agriculture department under the tutelage of agriculture teacher, Kathy Bibby.
The visit came about a month after Shimimura attended the Sacramento Leadership Experience conference, where she met with Williams to discuss the school’s program and he promised to come see it first-hand.


....Enticknap, who hopes to attend the conference in Sacramento next year, said she was heartened to see an assembly person take a strong interest in the local agricultural program. “I think it’s really great that he’s coming to our school and looking at agriculture’s perspective on things,” she said, “because agriculturalists are the ones who are feeding the world and giving clothing, and people aren’t recognizing that.” - Santa Ynez Valley Journal