Reflection of Supervised Agricultural Experiences

Reflection on the Importance of Supervised Agricultural Experiences in Youth Development

“SAEs are Experiential service and/or worked-based learning through the implementation of a supervised agricultural program” is a direct quote from the National FFA Organization on SAEs.  

Here is my disclaimer: My knowledge behind SAEs has been what I have seen and talked to with students, FFA Alumni, and Ag Teachers.  If you would have asked me what an SAE was years ago I would have said something like: Project Animals, Crop Growing, Agribussiness, Job Shadowing. 

Now that I’m trying to prepare myself to be an FFA Advisor in training this spring I am starting to get a better idea of the purpose of SAE.

During my one visit to Cumberland Valley FFA Chapter I met one of the girls who is working on an agriscience fair project. This is kind of like a science fair project but has its own twist.  This is how she determined her project topic:

“At first I wanted to find a way to get out of doing my chores. This lead to me thinking about creating a robot to do my chores. Then I thought about things like robotic hands. That became my project.”

So her project started off with a desire to find a way to get out of chores. Which has now changed to a project looking at making prosthetic hands with a 3-D Printer from the Engineering department. Let me explain why I think this project is so awesome: her project was research which could also be used to support the agrabilities Program. Also what makes this cool is how it is an Ag Application on something that most people wouldn't consider as "Ag" to begin with. This girl expressed interest to me that her project now was making her look into medical school. Even though medical school may not be agriculturally related but the fact that FFA through SAEs has given a student a look at a possible career path is 100 % awesome. Another fun fact: she will be competing at National FFA Convention with her SAE.

Learning about her SAE and giving her some advice on the written portion of the SAE Application

One thing I think became clear to me about SAE with this visit is it doesn’t matter what the project is entirely, it’s about the student behind the project. It’s about developing that student through an experience and hoping that they come out with more confidence in themselves. This makes me excited to work with students and their SAE projects. 

To Be Continued . . .