AVON, Ind. — Nearly 400 students from Avon Pine Tree Elementary School, kindergarten through fourth grade, spent Friday, March 20 celebrating national agriculture month during its fifth annual livestock day.

A suburban school near Indianapolis, Ind., the students and teachers rotated through 11 stations, spending 10 minutes at each and learning something new at every stop. The variety of stations included: wool spinning, 4-H knowledge led by Miss Indiana State Fair Madeline Hayden, poultry, animal nutrition, horses, beef and dairy cattle, FFA and careers in agriculture led by Indiana FFA state officers, veterinary science, goats and swine.

Indiana FFA vice president Lindsey O’Hara said she was “pleased to hear all kinds of different questions, and to answer those questions. And, as FFA officers, we were happy to educate the students about agriculture.”

All of the Pine Tree Elementary students were eager for their day out of class to learn about agriculture. Two students from Mrs. Rader’s second grade class shared their experience at the fifth annual livestock day.

The first student, Grace, said she, “liked the cows the best and learned that they have thick hair in the winter and shed it in the springtime, like dogs do.”

Another student, Dominick, said he was “most excited about the pigs and learned that goat’s milk can make soap, and it smelled really good.”

The inspiration for this event came from farmer’s daughter and former educator Angie Williams, who grew up with a passion for agriculture, but felt a need to be an advocate when her new neighbors moved in recently. Those neighbors knew little about the agriculture processes, Williams said.

After informing her neighbors, Williams began going from classroom to classroom to present the basics of agriculture to students in Avon and Brownsburg. She has presented agri-lessons from kindergarten classes to 12th grade economics classes.

In the past few years, Williams has reached seven schools with her agriculture programs and more than 8,000 students have been educated.

The Avon Pine Tree Elementary livestock day requires about six months of preparation, Williams said. The event is 100 percent volunteer led; bringing farmers and agriculturalists together from around the community to both advocate for agriculture and educate elementary students on its importance.

This year there were 27 volunteers that made the event possible by bringing in their livestock and presenting to students. Pine Tree Elementary teachers are as excited as the students about the event. They host a pitch-in lunch each year for the farmers as a way to say “thank you.”

The elementary school hosts a tractor day, put on Williams and other volunteers, each fall. Williams compares tractor day to a “Farm Progress Show within the school parking lot.”

Farmers are more than willing to bring in their equipment to teach the students every aspect of farming – from planting to harvest.