Grassroots in action: Engaging youth in central Minnesota
To support grassroots engagement, Minnesota Corn’s district field managers (DFMs) attend a variety of educational programs and events each year. In early May, Kennedy Janssen, the DFM for District 3, represented Minnesota Corn at an elementary school ag day hosted by the Dassel-Cokato FFA chapter. Below is her recap of the event.
By Kennedy Janssen
It was the morning of Friday, May 6th. After one of the gloomiest springs on record, the sun was finally out and ready to shine. I headed out in the morning from Golden Valley to Dassel, MN to attend the Elementary Ag Day that their FFA Chapter was putting on. Getting the call from Kevin, a local farmer in the area just a few days earlier, I was unsure of what to expect from this event. I packed my car with a little bit of everything and hoped for the best. I met up with Kevin and a few FFA member volunteers, Charlotte and Lydia. They were wonderful to work with, and we got to work setting up for the students to arrive.
Besides our Minnesota Corn booth, there were a dozen or so other stations focusing on other parts of agriculture. There were baby goats, rabbits, cattle, flower planting, and other stations spread across the gym and venturing outside. The grades were split up into groups to visit with each station about all the interesting things happening within the agricultural industry.
It was the calm before the storm and before we knew it, dozens of kindergarteners flooded the gym. My usual target audience is farmers ages 50+, so this was quite the change for me. How we were going to connect with kindergartners through 4th graders (and keep their attention) was the ultimate challenge. I leaned down to their level and started chatting with them about all things corn. Kevin and the FFA volunteers were rockstars and helped facilitate the conversation as well. After a brief introduction to corn, we settled into our short activity with the students.
The objective of the activity was to take a basket full of various items and have the kids separate what items they think contain corn from those that do not. I shared with them a bucket of items ranging from batteries, popcorn, diapers, and macaroni & cheese. One by one, the kids took turns sorting out the items. Plot twist — ALL the items contained corn! At the end, we went through each item, and the students’ reactions were priceless. Many gasps, “no ways!”, and shocked faces were shared as I told them that even that lipstick and those gummy bears contain corn.
After the kindergarteners came the 1st through 4th graders. The morning session concluded, and after packing up, we headed to Cokato Elementary. The afternoon went as well as the morning session, but this time, we were outside in the sun. We met with a dozen or more groups of students. With so many of them at a time, and with the help of Charlotte and Lydia, we were able to split up into two groups to keep the kids more engaged.
One of my favorite quotes of the day was when a first grader proudly proclaimed, “I love gummy bears, and I love corn!”. Same girl, same. The closest anyone came to the correct sorting was a group of about 7 girls who confidently decided that all but 3 items were made from corn (to be fair, batteries are a tricky one).
[Learn more: Did you know that corn is used in over 4,000 consumer products?]
With the wonderful facilitation from Dassel-Cokato FFA Chapter and the help of all the volunteers, the event went great and exceeded many of our expectations! With over 700 students in attendance, it was great to share some fun information about corn with this future generation of agriculturalists.
Kennedy Janssen is the Minnesota Corn Growers Association district field manager for District 3.
