Like all Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions Emma Visser knows how important it is for all young people to have a voice. Fired by her love of animals and agriculture Emma is using her voice and taking every opportunity to engage, empower and inspire others to follow her career education pathway into the noblest profession – farming
Emma and Friend
This month Emma has been very busy sharing her farming stories internationally through her entry in the ABC Heywire Competition. HEYWIRE is an annual competition for young people from regional Australia. It’s a place for young people to share stories and opinions about the news that affects them. Emma’s video entry captures her life moving from the city to the country. ”Every day brings many new experiences and learning curves. I would love to see more young people know they can get involved with agriculture without having to be brought up on a farm”.
You can watch Emma’s Heywire Entry here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQwJ0dSMvXM
Emma also had a chance to share her story face to face when she visited Windsor Public School as part of their Archibull Prize journey. Emma was very excited to find Windsor Public School was right into the flavour of food experience when she arrived She was met by a teacher dressed as a strawberry and when she signed in she was informed that it was “mufti day” and all the students and teachers were dressed as a fruit or vegetable. Some were dressed as bananas, apples, oranges, and one boy was covered in green paint as he was a dragon fruit.
Firstly she was invited to the staffroom for morning tea and to meet all the teachers. One teacher said that the students kept asking when “he was coming” referring to the farmer that was going to visit the school. When she told them that the farmer was actually a female, the kids couldn’t believe it.
When the bell rang she went the classroom and she found forty year one & year two’s all dressed as fruit and vegetables. So cute. She found all the students very focused on what she had to say. She told them the story of the calves on her farm and their life journey. The students really enjoyed her video and asked LOTS of questions which she really enjoyed listening to. The students asked questions like ‘How many cows do you have, how many cows do you milk, how much milk do our cows make, how long have I worked on the farm, how big do cows get, and how do the cows get their names?’
After answering questions the teacher then put on a video for the students. Some of the students follow the KT’s Farmlife blog online about a little girl who lives on a beef property. Some of the class had watched a video of a calf being pulled out and were very keen to show all their fellow school friends. Some students covered their eyes and ears when watching it, but most of the students were fascinated.
Emma said “I really enjoyed my school visit. The kids were really interested in what I had to say, loved my video and pictures and now all want to be farmers”.
Emma’s Windsor Public School PowerPoint can be found here http://www.slideshare.net/art4agriculture/city-girls-love-cows-and-the-country
Check out some more great Heywire stories from young rural people here http://www.abc.net.au/heywire/winners.html