By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Two Barren County High School students were selected to receive the statewide Supervised Agricultural Experience grant through the Kentucky Future Farmers of America Foundation.
Both high school students — Bridgette Smith and Ashley Jones — are members of the Barren County High School FFA chapter. As members of the group each prepare a SAE proposal, which, as Barren County High School agricultural teacher Andy Joe Moore explains, is a core part of the three-circle approach the programs operates under — the other two being agriculture class instruction and FFA membership.
“You come to an ag class, there’s you’re instruction, by being in ag class you’re allowed to join FFA, so there’s that…then that third component that Supervised Agricultural Experience, [which] basically means we want them to have a project outside of school time,” Moore said. “The purpose of this grant is to either enhance a current SAE or to launch a brand new one.”
Showcasing the enhancing purpose of this $500 grant is Bridgette Smith, a freshman at BCHS who plans to purchase two more calves with the money; adding to the 12 her and her family currently owns.
“We recently moved so we had to sell the cattle at our old house, so with this grant I can buy two more calves,” Smith said. “So it’ll expand the herd at our house.”
Ashley Jones is the other recipient. She is a junior at the high school and this is the first time she has applied for this SAE grant. She plans to use the money to start a small pet grooming business out of her home in Barren County.
“At first I thought I wasn’t going to get it because it’s pretty competitive [so] when I got it I had to blink my eyes because I didn’t think it was real,” Jones said.
Moore said Barren County High School has a “good tradition” of students receiving this grant, which is offered twice per year. He also said having student who have gotten this is a good “recruiting tool” because it allows students to essentially see it close to them.
“The special part of this is recognizing the initiative they took,” Moore said. “They didn’t have to submit this and I think it makes it that much more rewarding. [Smith and Jones] add to the legacy because when they launch this grant process again we can stand in front of our student and go down the list of recipients and make it personal. Make them say ‘If they got the grant maybe I can too.'”
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