By KELLY HECKAMAN
Purdue Extension office

What is biosecurity? Farm machinery production offers what career options? When a chicken (hen) begins to lay eggs for the first time, she is how old?

A beef animal yields how many quarter pound hamburgers? The number one pollutant, by volume, in Indiana waters is? When going to market, hogs are typically identified using what?

Do you know the answers to these questions? If not, ask just one of the almost 1,000 4th grade students who attended Ag Day events in April. These just represent a few of things the students learned while touring 12 learning stations reflective of agriculture in Kosciusko County. Each student had to take a pre-test before attending the event and a post test after they got back to school.

The test is just one instrument used to gauge the increase in knowledge and awareness that the students gained while at Ag Day. Over the two-day event, test scores increased by 39.1 percent.

Again this year the class in each school system showing the most improvement on their test scores received a pizza party.

The winners for 2013 are Warsaw Schools: Mr. Marc Andrew’s class, Jefferson Elementary; Wawasee Schools: Mrs. Cheryl Miller’s class, North Webster Elementary; Whitko Schools: Mrs. Lynn Studebaker’s class, Pierceton Elementary; Tippecanoe Valley Schools: Ms. Jenny Stiffler, Akron Elementary.

Mr. Andrew’s class showed the most improvement of all classes by increasing scores 60 percent.

This year there were about 8 percent of the students who achieved a perfect score on the post-test – 86! Each student received a token for a free one-scoop dish or cone donated by Culver’s Frozen Custard.

The following received perfect scores on the test:
Akron: Jerzey Conley, Matthew Lozano, Chase Miller
Claypool: Micah Colbert
Harrison: Andres Adame, Hannah Draughn, Delanie Dubbs, Joe Lin, Jaclyn Meyer, Mackensie Quick, Tommy Slocum, Bryan Tlahuel, Eric Warren, Sam Bell, Juan Hernandez, Mai-lei Khiev, Marta Murillo, Madison Underwood
Jefferson: Jonah Brinkerhuff, Leah Stanford, Jesus Velazquez, Colton Wampler, Tucker Carlile, Camden Feather, Ethan Grill, Kaleb Harter, Amelia McClelland, Maddy Morgan, Nick Setser, Hannah Vogts, Brianna Workman, Stone Shipley
Leesburg: Hunter Thompson
Lincoln: Dylan Gibson, Logan Zeiger
Madison: Alejandro Cervantes, Ian Denzer, Daniel Warner, Matthew Meyer
Milford: Adam Beer
North Webster: Ethan Clark, Aidan McLane, Makenna Tharp, Kain Wenger, Noah Beckner, Kassidy Bestul, Ethan Carey, Reid Cox,Mackenzie Fisher, Tess Helfers, Phoenyx Niedermeyer, Zach Smith, Parker Stouder, Vivian Wiggs, Vanessa Wright, Allie Haberman, Nathan Smith, Jeff Bussert, Stephanie Ruiz, Andrew Fannin, Ava Rush, EllaMae Reiff
Pierceton: Nathan Couch-Linton; Nick Meadows, Kyle Parrett, Bryce Rhodes, Trevor Stidams, Zack Stump, Matt  Collier, Gage Howard, Jacob Nicodemus
Sacred Heart: Betty Barnett, Zach Martinez
South Whitley: Kylie Hathaway, Aiden Hoffman, Lauren Hollenbaugh, Serina Houser, Mason Krider, Kaige Michael, Nelson Miller, Steven Mullens, Luke Rhoades, Jonathan Schwartz, Jonathan Strayer, Evan Wilson
Warsaw Christian: Hannah Starrett

Students who showed the most improvement in their test scores also received recognition. Each student also received a Culver’s token. The following received this recognition:
Claypool: Emily Collins, Perly Orozco, Ann Marie Rusher, Maddy Whitaker
Eisenhower: Riley Groninger
Harrison: Marta Murillo
Jefferson: Emily Gunter, Cole Rhodes
Leesburg: Lillian Pruitt, Courtney Godwin, Dulce Juarez, Andrew Mendez, Makala Richardson
Lincoln: Preston Wagner, Lisandro Cervantes, Dylan Gibson, Logan Zeiger, Ivy Hall
Madison: Shyliah Williams
Mentone: John Moore, Dominic Hunt, Mikayla McCord, Ava Craig
Milford: Erin McGreevy, Aiyana Perales, Samantha Kolberg, Blake Roose, Nyla White
North Webster: Makenna Tharp, Logan Roberson, Nathan Smith
Pierceton: Alex Hoover, Christian Phifer, Caleb Stromatt, Ian Stephens
Sacred Heart: Zachary Martinez
Syracuse: Clayton Schmucker and Emma Dippon

As you can tell, the teachers and students worked hard to learn at least one new thing at the 2013 Ag Day event. Congratulations to all the winners. These events would not be possible without the countless hours that over 150 volunteers put into the event and the sponsors.

The Ag Awareness Committee appreciates the time and effort that all the volunteers, teachers and students put into making Ag Day possible. Without their time and energy Ag Day wouldn’t have been as successful.

Thank you also to the community for making the Ag Day events a continued success. We also would like to thank the schools for their hard work and allowing their students to attend Ag Day.

If you missed Ag Day events this year, make sure not to miss them in April 2014 – the 18th anniversary for the 4th graders on April 15-16.

Ag Day events are sponsored by the Kosciusko County Agriculture Awareness Committee, Purdue Extension – Kosciusko County, Kosciusko County Farm Bureau, and Farm Credit Mid America – Columbia City and hosted by the Kosciusko County Community Fair board.