Milan’s FFA Chapter Is Taking To The Skies

The Milan FFA Chapter has a new learning tool that can fly and will be used in Botany classes.

It’s a drone and Milan High School students in FFA recently got to demonstrate it at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District K-12 Career Technical Education summit, which was held last month at Washtenaw Community College.

To learn more about this new learning tool and the summit, the Sun Times News connected Milan’s FFA (Future Farmers of America) advisor Todd Federer, who said the K-12 Education Summit was great. The Milan FFA met with many different people while there, from administrators to industry leaders as well as their State Representative.  

Federer said “We had the drone on display and discussed how we will be using it at our school, and certifications kids can get after they graduate.” 

The Milan FFA is a school chapter of the Michigan FFA. Its goals are to make a positive difference in the lives of students at Milan High School by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

FFA is an intracurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership, Federer said.  The Milan FFA consists of several classes that are offered to Milan students, including Zoology, Botany, Natural Resources, FFA Leadership, and Agriculture Mechanics. 

An example of what FFA does recently saw them again getting outside of the classroom to participate in the State Skills Competition, which took place on April 11 in Lansing. About 40 students, who have been working in different areas, attended, according Milan FFA advisor to Mary Hammer. 

At the competition, there was group of the Milan students who are in Vet Science, who had to take a written test, identify 50 items like bugs and worms and equipment used in Vet Science, and perform a skill such as giving an animal an injection. Milan also had students doing other areas like Dairy Science, Food Science and Forestry and Agricultural Mechanics, just to mention a few. There were students from the many different Chapters in Michigan competing. 

Milan is one of the few Chapters that have a drone.

Back in Milan, Federer said the drone will be used and taught in the Botany classes. The drone is a DJI AGRAS T20P agricultural spraying drone.  It is used for spraying herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, insecticides and liquid fertilizers as well as spreading granular fertilizers and cover crops.  

Federer said they have a 24 acre field that Mike Myers, a local farmer, farms for the FFA. 

“We would like to help him by spraying the field, conducting experiments by planting half the field with cover crops and seeing the difference in yield, as well as applying fertilizers,” Federer said. “The students can learn real life skills and help out the local farmer and the FFA.”

Photos courtesy of the Milan FFA