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Show Thursday, October 25, 2007 Page 4 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN NEWS AND IDEAS ! r w CRAIQ DILGERDaily Herald David Bailey talks to second graders from Utah County about the importance of farm safety at the Farm Field Days event in Lehi on October 18, 2007. Second graders experience farm life Caleb Warnock DAILY HERALD Once upon a time, generations genera-tions ago, children knew from experience that eggs came from chickens, milk came from a cow's udder, and having hav-ing meat on the table meant harvesting an animal. Not any more. The Utah County Farm Bureau ended its 13th annual, three-day Fall Farm Field Days event on Thursday, giving thousands of second graders the chance to experience the farm life of their ancestors, if just for a few minutes. Three generations ago, if children in Utah Valley were not raised on a farm they at least knew someone who was, and had farm experience, said Neil Anderson of the Farm Bureau. That knowledge has now become so far removed from the public that Farm Field Days was invented to teach children and their teachers the basics of where food comes from. "You don't just go to the grocery gro-cery store," he said. "It's got to be produced somewhere. This is imjxirtant because a lot of Local students go red for drug-free Brittani Lusk DAILY HERALD She's only 14, but Alexa Walker knows what drugs can do to a person and a fam- fly- "Don't start. Don't try it. It will only give you grief and pain and give loved ones pain," Walker said. Two years ago, Walker's 19-year-old brother, who had been struggling with a heroin addiction, took his own life. "I kind of have learned from him. I just don't want to hurt my body at all," Walker said. "I was so surprised. I was shocked. I didn't know that it was really happening. I was really sad and then I found out why, and I just hated drugs from then on." Walker is an eighth-grader at American Fork Junior Current Events 101 A re you a subscriber to The Daily Herald? Are you planning a vacation? Students and teachers love using The Daily Herald for learning activities. Before you leave on vacation, donate the papers you won't be reading to local schools. We'll make certain vour papers are delivered to teachers teach-ers for instructional use. Vacation Donation is easy and convenient for you. It's also a great way to promote literacy lit-eracy and support The Daily Herald's successful Newspaper in Education program. Here's how: 1. Call The Daily Herald at 375-5103 and tell the customer service representative when you will be away on vacation. 2. Request that your undelivered newspapers be donated to a local school. 3. We will automatically stop delivery while you are away and resume delivery when you return home. The undelivered papers go to local schools during the current or coming school year. FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS 1 If kids think food comes from the grocery store." Farm Field Days, staged each spring in Spanish Fork and each fall in the Utah County Coun-ty Equestrian Park, which is in the county but borders Lehi, American Fork and Highland, celebrated its 50,000th second-grade second-grade guest last year, and took another two to three thousand children on a quick tour of farm life during this latest event, said Matt Hargreaves of the Farm Bureau. The experience is designed for breadth, not depth. Groups of children enter a huge barn at the Utah County Equestrian Park and spent six minutes per station listening to a volunteer farmer or Future Farmers of America student give them the scoop on everything from where bread comes from to how pork fat is used to make makeup a fact that caused one young student to swear off makeup forever. At one station, children learned about wheat production produc-tion and watched the grain being ground, taking the flour with them to the next station where it was made into a quick dough. Another station boast High. Friday was the culmination culmina-tion of Red Ribbon Week festivities fes-tivities at the school. Walker, along with more than 1,500 students, released'red helium-filled helium-filled balloons into the sky. Each balloon carried a drug-free drug-free commitment the students had made. The red tags said, "Today, Oct. 19, 2007 1 hereby commit to give myself the best possible pos-sible future by ..." Walker said she wrote that she wouldn't touch any drugs. When all the balloons went at once she was inspired. "That was cool. That looks amazing," she said. Schools across the country celebrate the week every October to educate students about the dangers of illegal drugs, alcohol and violence. . Walker doesn't know that the week will change the ' ed a hive of live bees at work making honey, showing children chil-dren that without bees, there would be no fruits, vegetables, or feed for livestock. "Sometimes we forget that," Anderson said. Patty Pumpkin, an animated talking vegetable that Anderson Ander-son called a crowd favorite, explained how vegetables are grown and why they are nutritionally nutri-tionally important. At another station a farmer showed children chil-dren a crooked neck squash, while a Spring Lake orchard owner showed boxes of Utah Valley fruit at the next station, explaining that Utah County is the second largest provider of tart cherries in the nation. Other stations focused on farm safety, and milk and dairy farms. Frank Nelson of Spanish Fork taught children about beef. "Just remember that beef gives you zip," he said. "Zinc, iron and protein. Zinc helps us think. Iron helps us replenish red blood cells. And protein helps us build muscle." In an interview, Nelson said he has volunteered at Farm Field Days since its inception 13 years ago because he was minds of her friends. "They don't really know exactly what it's like. They might want to try it just to see," Walker said. She hopes her friends won't touch drugs. Walker's mom, Jennifer Walker, said she is committed to teaching children about the dangers of drugs, even if many of them don't get the message. "If we can just get even a few to stop and think," Jennifer Jen-nifer Walker said her efforts would be worth it. Alexandra Gillies, 13, also in eighth grade at American Fork Junior, received the message. mes-sage. "It just makes me want to say go away, leave me alone. Don't ask me if I want to smoke or don't ask me to do any of that," Gillies said. "I dont want to hurt my body like that. I know what it does. I know that MllMlllO fr t'y alarmed that children and even adults increasingly had no idea where food really comes from. There is evidence the program is working, he said. First, there are now more schools that want to participate than can be accommodated, and the program is forced to turn away children even with three days of events. Second, fewer and fewer teachers now say "I didn't know that" as they accompany their students through the different stations. And teachers who understand how food is produced can better bet-ter teach those concepts in the classroom, he said. The students also visited a live horse, pigs, calf, cow and goats, watched sheep dogs herd animals, and learned about how wool and pork products are used. "We wish we could do more," Anderson said. At the end of their visit, each child got to sample the wares of local farmers, taking tak-ing with them a cup of treats representing each level of the food pyramid an apple slice, a cracker, a carrot stick, beef jerky and cheese. community most of them kill you." . According to the National Family Partnership, Red Ribbon Rib-bon Week is held in commemoration commem-oration of murdered Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Ca-marena Ca-marena who was killed in 1985 while working undercover in Mexico. The hope is that the red ribbon becomes a symbol of intolerance toward the use of drugs. Laura Padilla has been helping help-ing Lehi Elementary School put on Red Ribbon Week for three years. Activities begin at that school next week. She said the students she works with may be young but get the message that drugs and alcohol alco-hol can be bad for them. "Starting young, there is no harm in that," Padilla said. "They definitely understand what you are talking about." www.lieraldextra.com yellowpages American Fork High School Band wins The American Ameri-can Fork Band swept the Open Class division of the Mt. Timpanogos Marching Band competition in Orem Saturday, triumphing once again over Davis by 10 points. The band took all the special awards for musical performance, perfor-mance, visual performance, color guard, and percussion. College fair The annual college fair for seniors is tomorrow to-morrow from 8 to 10:45 a.m. AU seniors will be involved and their parents are also invited to attend, on their calendars cal-endars and plan on attending. This will be from 8 -10:45 p.m. All of the Utah colleges will be represented. Seniors will have the opportunity attend the presentations of their top 3 college choices. Critical college col-lege information unique to the particular school will be presented. Sterling Scholar applications applica-tions Sterling Scholar applications ap-plications are available in the Counseling Center for any interested in-terested senior. Applications are due Nov. 2 Haunted Hallways returns The annual Haunted Hallways Hall-ways will be on Halloween from 5 to 8 p.m. for children age 12 and under. AFHS clubs and organizations will decorate rooms in anticipation anticipa-tion of the visiting ghosts and ghouls seeking tricks and treats. All activities will take place in the west hallway just inside the main entrance of the school. The event, which is sponsored by the school's service club known as Cave Team, sponsors the event. Donations and food collected from admission are used to help local families in need. Admission is one can of food or $1 per person. American Fork Junior High Fall orchestra concert The junior high orchestra will hold their fall concert at American Fork High School tonight at 6 p.m. Patrons and community members are encouraged and invited to attend. at-tend. Admission is free.- Monster Mash, Fright Night dances A "Monster Mash" dance for seventh and eighth grade students will be held Friday from 2:50 to 4 p.m. A "Fright Night" dance for 9th grade students will also be held Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. Term to end Tomorrow is the last day of term 1. Halloween dress up Students Stu-dents are invited to dress up on Halloween but are reminded remind-ed that their costumes must be in. good taste. Barratt Elementary Reflections entries All Reflections entries are due tomorrow. to-morrow. The theme is "I can make a difference by . . ." Halloween parade The Halloween parade will be at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Students Stu-dents are asked to wear their costume to school. ' Forbes Elementary Andy Cottrell The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. lon-ger. Outside, the weather gets colder and colder everyday. We even received our first snowfall of the year. It seems the weather is just as excited for snowboarding as I am! Leaves are everywhere. Pumpkins are just aching to be carved. Witches and hobgoblins hob-goblins are set up around the houses of people everywhere. Candy sales are at a record high. Children as well as adults are dreaming up the craziest ideas they can for a costume. Yes, once again, Halloween is at our doorstep. This holiday is looked forward to all year by just about everyone. The youngsters in your neighborhood neighbor-hood are deciding if your house is even worth going to, to get the best and most candy. Teenagers, even some of Halloween parade The Forbes annual Halloween parade pa-rade will be on Wednesday. It will begin at 1 ptn. and go to 2:15 p.m. when track 1 lets out for the day. Children in grades 1-6 need to bring their costumes with them to school. Kindergarten students may wear their costumes to school that day. The a.m. kindergarten kinder-garten classes will have their parade at 10 am. jf, Parents and students are reminded that clothing with obscene words or gestures will not be tolerated. Masks or anything depicting death or dismemberment will not be allowed. No weapons of any kind will be allowed as part of a student's costume. Take-home reading help needed The PTA is looking look-ing for volunteers to help with the take home reading program. This valuable tool helps ensure that children are reading frequently and on grade level. Anyone who can help one hour a week to help exchange books is asked to call Arlynne at 756-7430. Help purchase craft machine Parents, friends, family and community members can help Forbes Elementary earn a Cricut Machine from Roberts Craft by telling the cashier to apply your sales total to Forbes Elementary. To receive the brand new machine, Forbes Elementary must reach $5,000 in sales receipts re-ceipts by December 31. Legacy Elementary Photo retakes Make-up and picture retakes will be Monday. Any student who missed picture day should plan to get their picture taken whether or not a picture packet is purchase. The purchase pur-chase of picture packets is voluntary. Halloween parade The annual Halloween parades will be at 8:30 a.m. for track 1 students, 9:30 a.m. for kindergarten kin-dergarten and pre-school students stu-dents and 2:45 p.m. for track 2 students. Parents are invited to attend. Reflections theme The Reflections theme for this year is "I can make a difference differ-ence by . . ." Entry forms and rules for submission are available avail-able in the office or online at www.utahpta.org http: www.utahpta.org . All submissions sub-missions are due by Nov. 1. Help purchase craft machine Parents can help Legacy Elementary earn a Cricut Machine from Roberts Craft by telling the cashier to apply ap-ply your sales total to Legacy Elementary. To receive the brand new machine, Legacy Elementary must reach $5,000 in sales receipts by December. Shelley Elementary Third grade music program Third grade students will . present their music programs today. ; PTA cluster meeting A PTA cluster meeting will be 1 on Tuesday at 10 a.m in the library Halloween parties Halloween Hal-loween parties will be on Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. for track 1 and 2:30 p.m. for track 2. us in high school to this day, dress up and try to go get free candy. I want to tell all of the kids in high school to give it up. You are just too old. Plus, all the people get mad when you come to their door and ask for candy. "You're too old!" they always al-ways tell me. i This year at the high school, Haunted Hallways is going to be open on Halloween. Several Sever-al rooms are going to be decorated deco-rated to maybe scare your kids a bit, but of course, we give them candy in the end. To get in, you must bring one can of food, which will be collected at the door and will be donated by the high school to the food bank. We would most definitely love to see you there and would appreciate as many cans of food as we can get. Remember not to stay out too late this Halloween. It's on a school night and if you have homework to do, you dont have time to stay out and party. Have a very happy Halloween and make sure you stop by Haunted Hallways on Halloween night. |