By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Following last year’s travels to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, Riverview High teacher Karen Hamilton is set for another trip this summer, to Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“We have been doing the 10-day Summer Agricultural Education tour since 2013, minus the COVID years,” Hamilton said, in reference to the coronavirus pandemic, which first caused a lockdown in 2020. “We take kids to different parts of the United States to learn more about the agricultural industry outside of our world.”
The 2024 Summer Agricultural Education Tour included a visit with an alpaca, a mammal related to the llama and valued for its wool.
Set for this year’s tour are students from Riverview, Brandon and Sickles high schools in Hillsborough County and one student from North Florida. Sponsorships have been attained, and are being sought, for the June 3-12 trip.
“The kids pay $1,200 to go, and that covers their hotel, air fare and most of the attractions that have an entry fee,” Hamilton said. “They’re responsible also for their own meals and souvenirs. Donations help cover the costs for rental vehicles, gas and other incidentals, and any money left over is set aside for the next year’s trip.”
The annual trip traces its roots to Denny Geinger, who on behalf of Iowa Pork Producers, “started a concession stand outside of the livestock area at the Florida State Fair to help benefit Florida FFA,” Hamilton said. “One day he said, ‘Why don’t you come up to Iowa, and we’ll show you how we grow corn and raise pigs.’ And so, in 2013, we drove from Florida to Ohio to see what they have up there, and every four years we go back to Iowa.”
But this year, the trip has students flying into Nebraska for an itinerary that includes visiting the University of Nebraska Food Science and Technology program; Mount Rushmore National Memorial, surrounded by the Black Hills of South Dakota; AgWeek publication headquarters in Fargo, North Dakota; and the swine unit and meats lab at North Dakota State University.
The trip agenda includes also a tractor test laboratory, bison ranch, historical fish hatchery, sheep farm, creameries, crystal sugar plant, flax farm, cattle ranch, poultry processing facility and a forest product processing facility, where trees are turned into lumber.
As with every trip since 2013, “We try to make connections to Florida,” Hamilton said. For example, “Plant City is billed as the ‘winter strawberry capital of the world,’ but where do we get the strawberries? They actually come from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.” During a trip to those four states, Hamilton added, “we visited a producer in Canada that grows the berries we produce down here.”
Karen Hamilton photos
The 2024 Summer Agricultural Education Tour included a stop at Mesa Verde National Park in Montezuma County, Colorado.
In another link to home, this year’s trip includes a visit with Josh Cribbs, the son of Tim Cribbs, who was a long-time agricultural education teacher and department head at Durant High School. “Josh lives in North Dakota, and he works for the American Maine- Anjou Association, and he was able to make arrangements for us to visit a working cattle ranch,” Hamilton said. “He’ll also cover another side of the cattle industry, the breeding side, and he will talk to the kids about his time as an FFA student and about his particular farm and what they do there.”
In planning the annual agricultural education summer tour, Hamilton said the aim is to include surrounding states, as in the year the students visited Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, and the year they visited Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.
The 2024 Summer Agricultural Education Tour included a stop at Colorado State University.
“It turns into a major event every year,” Hamilton said. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids to see other aspects of agriculture that we don’t have here.”
This school year marks Hamilton’s 42nd year as an agricultural education teacher. Teaching also vet assisting, Hamilton has been duly recognized for her impact on the generations of kids who have come through her agricultural education classrooms and 4-H Club meetings. She notes that today, all agriculture students are FFA members as well. In 2024 Hamilton received the Harvest Award for Outstanding Woman in Agriculture, awarded by the Hillsborough County Fair Board of Directors.
For more on the trip and ways to offer a sponsorship, email Hamilton at karen.hamilton@hcps.net/, or call 813-267-3012.