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AgScape announces first Gen Ag competition winners

 Students from three Ontario high schools pitched classmates on why they should consider a career in agriculture, as part of the first Gen Ag competition by AgScape. The event was held on May 18 with students from Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Simcoe, Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Leamington and North Middlesex District High School from Parkhill.

Students from Holy Trinity Catholic were chosen as winners in this first-of-its-kind competition in Ontario. Gen Ag (short for generation agriculture) is part of a national pilot project, funded by Farm Credit Canada, that’s offered in Ontario, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan to introduce and engage high school students with career opportunities in agriculture.

“I was blown away by the enthusiasm and creative ideas the students presented,” says Jenny Mayer, project coordinator with AgScape. “It’s clear this program has given students another career perspective in agriculture. And that’s our goal – to show millennials what the agri-food industry can offer them after high school.”

For Gen Ag in Ontario, AgScape provided students and teachers with classroom instruction support and helped organize field trips to show the array of agricultural jobs and post-secondary programs available in the agri-food industry.

Gen Ag contestant teams, made up of three to four students, were required to give a short presentation to a panel of agricultural industry judges.  The winning team from Holy Trinity Catholic High School shared initiatives they are doing in their own school to raise awareness of career opportunities in agriculture. “The students took part in meetings, field trips and special projects, all to learn and expose themselves to what agriculture can offer,” says Christine D’Hulster, program teacher lead at Holy Trinity Catholic High School. “We asked ourselves how we could encourage our fellow students to consider agriculture, and now we have regular initiatives like wearing branded shirts and are hosting events to talk about agriculture at school.”

“Entire classes came from some of the schools to support their teams,” says Colleen Smith, AgScape Executive Director. “This competition and the outstanding quality of presentations shows the students embraced the challenge and enjoyed learning about agricultural careers along the way.”

Source: AGscape


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