The North Carolina State University Agronomy Club: Serving a Diverse Community.

The NCSU Agronomy Club has reached out to several different community groups throughout the last year.  These activities can be classified into two broad categories, service and education.  Service activities this year included “Warmth for Wake”, Earth Day partnerships with a local elementary school, and a canned food drive for World Hunger Day.  Warmth for Wake is a local program organized by the City of Raleigh that cuts and delivers firewood to underprivileged families who rely on wood as an energy source during the winter.  Agronomy Club members participated in two work days (one each in the fall, and spring) to split and deliver firewood.  In addition, a partnership was formed with a local elementary school for Earth Day.  During this program, the NCSU students prepared flower beds at the school, and assisted in locating plant material and helping the elementary school students with planting flowers.  An educational assembly was held at the conclusion of the program for the students.  The final service activity included a canned food drive in October to highlight Hunger Awareness Week.  Students collected food from various locations on campus, and were able to donate nearly a ton of food to the NC Food Bank. Educational activities included field days for local 3^rd grade students that were hosted by students and employees of the Crop and Soil Science Departments, and displays at the NC State Fair.  In an effort to educate the area youth several third grade classes were invited to visit the NCSU agronomy teaching garden.  At the garden, several different volunteers taught the students about crops grown in North Carolina (including cotton, soybean, peanut, and tobacco).  Students were able to view how they were grown, and quizzed about their uses as food, feed and fiber.