For the past five years the Virginia Tech Agronomy Club has
participated in educational programs to instruct students from local elementary
schools about agronomy. The Commonwealth of Virginia has Standards of Learning,
which is a curriculum guide set forth by the state for each grade level. In order for extra-curricular field trips to
occur, the program of interest must fulfill one or more of the requirements set
forth in the SOLs.
Elementary students are required to know about soil science, including an
understanding of soil formation, soil horizons, and soil characteristics. They are also required to know about plant
growth. To meet these requirements, the Virginia Tech Agronomy
Club, with the help of its advisors, Dr. Jim McKenna and Dr. Ozzie Abaye, as
well as other department faculty members, have put together short lesson
plans. These plans involve a soil pit or
a soil lithograph and teaching students how to plant a seed and showing them
what happens to that seed as it grows.
Since the beginning of the program, the members of the VT Agronomy Club
have presented over 65 lessons to more than 2,500 students, all the while,
still attending classes of their own.
Not only are the Virginia Tech Agronomy Club members doing a service to
the surrounding community, they are having fun while doing it.