Members of Henning FFA plant vegetables, chart growth at Henning Community Garden
By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A chance meeting at a Dairy Queen turned into much more than just a Blizzard or chicken strip basket for Aaron Logan.

The former FFA advisor and Ag teacher at both the Battle Lake and Detroit Lakes School Districts had turned to life as a consultant in the private sector when he ran into preschool teacher Julie Frost who informed the former teacher about the need for an FFA advisor at Henning School. 

Logan admitted he didn’t know if he was interested in returning to the classroom full-time, but he reached out to Henning School Superintendent Melissa Sparks about a unique proposition: leading the FFA program without teaching in the classroom during the school year.  

The unique arrangement has led to Logan being able to work as a consultant, while continuing an FFA program that was just resurrected just over two years ago after not being offered at the school in approximately 20 years.

Since all of the students who participate in FFA need an ag-related class, Logan has been holding some ag classes this summer. 

“We are working on the garden, maintaining the garden and just doing some lessons,” said Logan of the classes so far.

Logan said there are 18 students who regularly attend the classes and 35 students total on the Reach app indicating they are interested in being a part of the Henning FFA. The goal of the community garden will be to allow students to not only plant the seeds but also complete data charts and monitor the growth of the different plants and the soil as a whole. 

“We are doing data collection and seeing how much we can produce,” he said. “It is interesting to see, and I’m not running into it here, is where they think food comes from the grocery store, which it does, but where does it come before that?”

As they get more familiar with one another the new advisor said he plans on just guiding the students and letting them take the program in the direction they see fit.

“I kind of like having the kids drive the program and me just being the facilitator,” he said. 

What has gotten Logan even more excited about the Henning FFA program is the opportunity to show the students all of the career opportunities and options available in the agriculture community. After all, ag-based businesses are a big part of the Henning community and that doesn’t necessarily mean just planting crops in the ground or taking care of animals.

“They have a lot of opportunities and for an agriculture community like Henning they need to get the kids back in the industry and grow that industry too,” he said.

Throughout the school year students in FFA can compete in a variety of contests ranging from livestock judging, plant science, cooking, running a meeting and much more.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Henning FFA program should contact Henning School at 583-2927.