Two years ago, the Fosston Public School Board developed a strategic plan. Creating the plan included community members’ input through informal listening sessions and discussions with business owners, and meetings with staff and students. One outcome of that process is creation of new classes that provide more access to and information about careers and technical education. This 2021-22 school year, the district fulfilled part of the plan by hiring a licensed agricultural teacher, Myla Donovan. Mrs. Donovan was busy developing classes and starting up an FFA program even before the school year began. The information below was written by Mrs. Donovan to provide an update about the Ag program in general and the specifics about each current class.

Fish & Wildlife- This class just spent the past three weeks building their own custom fishing rods. Students who completed this project are now certified basic custom rod builders and received a certificate from the Mud Hole company. On December 9th Trout Unlimited chapter 642 will be visiting this class. They are donating enough materials to provide each student with materials to learn how to tie a fly for fly fishing! Keith Mernitz (Trout Unlimited president) is also a custom rod builder and will be sharing information about his business.

Welding- Students in this class have been learning SMAW techniques and have spent the past two weeks building their own toolboxes. This week, Sharps donated welding rods and scrap metal for welding and Intro to Ag classes. Luke Omang (9th grader) worked hard to contact Sharps and work out a deal with them. Way to go Luke!

Woods- Students have been hard at work creating their very own barn quilts. Many students made this project as a gift for others. Each student had to create their own design for this project. I could not be more proud of the hard work students put into their barn quilts!

Intro to Ag- Students have been busy learning all about engines! This week students will be finishing up their small engine overhauls. Various community members have been dropping off small engine projects for students to work on as well. On November 16th, students took a field trip to Arctic Cat in Thief River Falls, MN. Did you know the bulk of manufacturing for Arctic Cat happens at this facility? Students received a full tour and were able to ask questions to current employees. Students learned that this company is always hiring welders, engineers, forklift drivers, and more! Arctic Cat also offers internships for students. On November 23rd, this class will be having a guest speaker from Ag Centric to share all of the current careers available in agriculture throughout the state of MN!

Farm to Table- This class is always cooking up fun from pasta salad to pies! Each week this class explores a new meal. Students are able to research how food items in each recipe are produced before it gets to their table. Students have created their own cafes where they try to sell their food products each week. This past week, students made pie completely from scratch! The crust, filling, and even the frosting, was completely homemade. With Thanksgiving approaching students are creating their own Thanksgiving menu for their Cafe.

FFA- The FFA is up and running! Our next FFA meeting will be on November 23rd at 6:30 pm. At this meeting members will be deciding on their Christmas party, preparing for their December 3rd contest, discussing a service activity, will have a guest speaker from Ag Centric, and will be turkey bowling! We have been averaging 16 students per meeting. The first FFA contest day (Ag & NatR Activities Day) is December 3rd and is hosted at the University of Minnesota Crookston. There are 15 different contests happening this day with over 36,000 dollars worth of scholarships that will be given away to FFA members! I am more than thrilled to currently have over 35 students signed up to compete in 11 different contests on this day. This past October, FFA members across the state of MN were invited to apply for the Blue Jackets Bright Futures Scholarship. Fosston FFA had seven scholarship recipients! These students will receive an FFA jacket of their own. Congratulations to Tristan Nyland, Andre Egoroff, Tristen Osmonson, Isaac Salverson, Ian Salverson, Wyatt Teiken, and Trevor Vig. Way to represent Fosston FFA at a state level!

Keep watching the district’s Facebook page for up to date pictures and information about happenings in the Ag program.

Fosston Public Schools

Ag is Back and Growing #Fosston Strong