My visit to Durant High School

Me at the Florida State Fair with Mr. Shrum 

Back in February not only did I have the amazing opportunity to be an Intern at the Florida State Fair but I also visited Mr. Strugis at Durant High School in Plant City, Florida. My visit took place on the day prior to the fair and the whole day was such an adventure.

I'm a fairly new driver and this was my first time navigating an area I wasn't familiar with all on my own. So I put on the GPS and followed the directions that Mr. Sturgis had given me the day prior. I was very nervous about getting lost but fortunately I had very minor problems figuring out where I needed to be.

When I arrived I was welcomed in true Plant City fashion by a beautiful Strawberry field.

Durant High School Strawberry Field

I was a little hesitant about where to park but eventually decided to park next to some of the other cars by the strawberry field and the plant nursery (they had FFA license plates so I figured I was in the right place!). My car was definitely out of place among the trucks but at least I have a FFA license plate.

Plant nursery and where I parked :)

I was then faced with my next challenge, figuring out where to go. There were no signs and where to go after I parked wasn't included in the instructions I had received. Luckily there were some of his students working outside who were able to show me where to go. 

After I got all checked in at the front office, the day officially begun. It was the day before Mr. Strugis and I needed to be at the State Fair so it definitely wasn't a typical day. 

However, I did get to observe all of his classes including some of his students preparing for different CDE's. 

Mr. Strugis teaches a wide variety of Ag classes. Like Horticulture, Animal Science and Ag mechanics. He also coaches a few different CDE teams. 

The first couple of classes were mainly group work and Mr. Strugis circulated the room helping out students as needed. I really liked this approach and how it allowed students to work on their own. 

Next was horticulture, where I got to observe his current student teacher give a lesson on learning plant IDs. What I really liked was how she actually purchased real plants for the students to identify. So they were able to touch them, examine them and even smell them. I really liked this method as opposed to pictures. 

After Horticulture, I got to observe animal science. I really enjoyed this lesson led by his student teacher. They were learning about the ruminant digestive tract and had her students create the different parts of the digestive tract using play-doh. All of their posters turned out really well and I really loved this hands on group activity. 

After Animal Science, I got a tour of the rest of the Agriculture Department. We hopped in the County Truck and headed to the pasture to feed the herd of cattle. On the way there we passed the orange grove which was really nice to see because most orange groves in Florida have been lost to citrus greening. 

Orange grove 

Orange Grove

As we drove in the truck to the pasture, Mr. Sturgis talked about the history of the school and how the school actually sits on a good amount of land. They actually had a brush fire not too long ago and were very lucky that the fire didn't get too out of control.

When we reached the cattle pasture, all the cows were really happy to see us. There were even some calves in the herd! 

 After feeding the cattle, we made our way back to tour the rest of the department. 

Our next stop was the barn where all the show animals were being kept for the State Fair and Strawberry Festival. 

The barn was an open air setup (which is very typical for Florida). Each stall was pretty much set up with the feeder the animal will use at the festival or fair and some sort of water system. 

Our final stop for the day was the shop! I got to observe some students learning to weld and Mr. Strugis trouble shooting a problem with one of the welding machines. What I found really cool about this experience was that Mr. Sturgis had a student who was proficient in welding teach another student what to do. I really like this method of teaching and found it very cool to watch. 

That concluded my day at Durant High School and there really wasn't anything about the day that I didn't enjoy! 

The best part about the whole experience was that the next day I got to work with Mr. Strugis at the State Fair!

Working at the State Fair (Mr. Sturgis was the announcer)