Back Roads: Open doors, open opportunities

By Kevin Schulz
The Land Editor

May 25, 2007 03:12 am

— Part open house, part celebration.
The Forest Lake Area High School ag department has opened its doors the first Friday in May for the past 23 years to show fellow students and the public what a high school agriculture department is all about.
“Kids want to show what we’ve done,” said Amanda McGowan, a senior ag student. “We want the public to know what we’re doing here.”
And that ag department has quite a bit to show.
Though only 20-some miles north of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and still considered by many to be metro, the high school ag department boasts three instructors, about 560 students in ag classes and 115 in FFA. At the recent state FFA convention, the Forest Lake FFA Chapter was named one of the 10 best chapters in the state.
According to Mike Miron, a former Forest Lake ag student and currently one of the ag teachers at the school, the Forest Lake ag students aren’t your traditional farm youth, with few coming from what would be considered a traditional farm. “I think only about six of the kids come from actual production agriculture farms.”
With that in mind, the teachers have had to alter their lesson plans to meet the needs and interests of the students. “The largest portion of agriculture in our area is equine,” he said, thus there is a greater significance placed on teaching courses about horses.
The ag department also has its own greenhouse, from which plants are sold during the May 4 open house, with the money going back into the department.
Though the agriculture may be different in these parts, the Forest Lake Area ag department does not shy away from the ag industry backbone. “I look at this (the open house) as a way to improve the ag literacy of the area,” Miron said.
Bob Marzolf, a recent state FFA Hall of Fame inductee, has been teaching in the Forest Lake ag department for 23 years, and he still speaks with enthusiasm about the department, agriculture and his students.
“One of my students invited a couple of her friends to come check out the open house,” he said. “Just a little while ago they came up to me, saying that they wanted to join. We got them to sign their FFA membership application.
“That’s what today is all about, getting people interested and excited about agriculture and FFA.”
That enthusiasm rubs off on the students. Michelle Medina, a Forest Lake senior, is an FFA “late bloomer.” Taking her first ag class as a sophomore and joining FFA as a junior, Medina admits to not having a clue what she wanted to do in her life.
“Then I saw Mr. Marzolf and the other ag teachers, and how they enjoyed coming to work each day, I thought that’s something that I may want to try.”
Medina is set to begin working on her agricultural education degree at the University of Minnesota this fall.

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