SCOTT, La. — This week's segment on Cools Schools brings us to Acadiana High School. It's known as the home of the Wreckin' Rams, but it's also home to a few cows and chickens.
“This is one of the dairy cattle that we show here," says Braxston Schexnayder, Secretary for Future Farmers of America club. "This is the one I show, her name is Willow. She's about a year and a half to two years old.”
The school is the only one in the state with dairy cattle on its campus. The club travels around the state and nation, competing and placing in poultry, dairy, and livestock evaluations.
The purpose of these shows is to help pick the best and healthiest livestock, which will eventually become food on our tables.
“This is where our food comes from, you don’t want tainted meat or cows that aren’t producing," Gavin Simoneaux, Vice President tells KATC. "Because if you don’t have cows that are producing, you aren’t getting meat and you aren’t getting milk.”
The student-run farm involves more than just tending to animals; it also involves learning leadership and skills through animal care.
“I was never an AG kid," says Breaden Broussard, Vice President. "I grew up in the city and I never really had aspirations or dreams to be in the agricultural field, agriculture is now my life.”
The students spend some summer, weekends, and class time maintaining the farm. These skills are not found often in a classroom.
“A lot of people take for granted what agriculture actually does but it does so much for the clothes we wear, the different buildings we live in, all of our food supplies. It's all from agriculture," says Carter Aucoin, President of the FFA Club.
“It opens up doors for a lot of kids that don’t really come from a farming background," Wayne Oubre, Agriculture teacher and FFA Club supervisor. "Farming isn’t common anymore, even in rural parts of Louisiana. We don’t see it as much as we used to. So allowing them to go ahead and come here and care for livestock animals like cows and chickens. It gets them experience that they can’t get on their own.”
KATC asked Sarah Thibodeaux, Parliamentarian, about her favorite part of being in the club. “For me the people. I mean most of these people in FFA are like my brother and sisters they are like my second family it's a great club to be part of,” she says.
