Ellison Wins Reserve Champion at State Fair

Canton FFA member Elizabeth Ellison wins Reserve Champion at the Missouri State Fair in the Floriculture and Gardening Division. Elizabeth won Reserve Grand Champion in the gardening division with her grounds and she won Reserve Champion in the Floriculture Division with her bridal bouquet. Both projects are a portion of Elizabeth’s Supervised Agriculture Experience. 
Canton FFA members are learning career skills through their supervised agricultural experience (SAE). Through their involvement in the SAE program, students can consider multiple careers and occupations, learn expected workplace behavior, develop specific skills within an industry, and are given opportunities to apply academic and occupational skills in the workplace or a simulated workplace environment. Through these strategies, students learn how to apply what they are learning in the classroom as they prepare to transition into the world of college and career opportunities. Students’ SAE projects are very diverse and can consist of one or multiple different types of projects. Students with an ownership/entrepreneurship type SAE own the enterprise, equipment, and supplies, make the management decisions and assume the financial risks to produce a product or provide a service. A few examples would include raising and selling animals or crops, building and selling agricultural equipment, buying and reselling feed, seed, or fertilizer, owning a pet care business, or a business that programs and installs computer equipment in tractors. Placement/Internship programs involve the placement of students in agriculture, food, or natural resources-related businesses to provide a “learning by doing” environment. These experiences may be paid or unpaid. Examples would include working on a farm or a ranch, in a farm supply store or a food testing laboratory, or in an agriculturally related non-profit organization. In research, SAE students plan and conduct major agricultural experiments using the scientific process and discover new knowledge. As part of the research, students verify and demonstrate or learn about scientific principles in agriculture. Examples would include conducting research on the most efficient feed supplements for livestock or the best fertilization methods for plants. Research could also be done to study consumer reactions to agricultural products or to determine the best method of welding to hold together a plow. Exploratory SAEs are appropriate for all agriculture students. This SAE activity is usually beginner-level, short-term, and designed primarily to help students become literate in agriculture and/or become aware of possible careers in the AFNR career cluster.
 Service-learning is a student-managed service activity where students are involved in the development of a needs assessment, planning the goals, objectives, and budget, implementation of the activity, and promotion and evaluation of a chosen project. It may be for a school, a community organization, a religious institution, or a non‐profit organization. The student(s) are responsible for raising necessary funds for the project (if funds are needed). A project must be a stand‐alone project and not part of an ongoing chapter project, or community fundraiser. Service-learning SAEs may be individual or a small group effort amongst students.  One of the highlights of the Canton FFA members’ projects is being able to exhibit their hard work during the Lewis County Fair, District Fair, and Missouri State Fair.