Triton third-graders learn about ag safety thanks to FFA

Triton Elementary School third-graders headed off to the Dodge County Fair Grounds last Friday where they learned about agricultural safety issues and toured an elevator and dairy farm.
The day was organized by the Triton High School FFA Chapter and area businesses.
Students rotated through a variety of learning activities that involved chemical safety, electrical safety and safety around large equipment. They also toured the elevator in Kasson and the Durst Dairy.
CHS employees and Scott McMartin of McMartin Electric were on hand to show the youngsters how to handle items that can be dangerous in a safe manner. But they also managed to do it in a fun and interesting way.
McMartin talked to the children about what can happen if a kite flies into a power line and also pointed out that water and electricity don’t mix.
But he also used a hot dog connected to electrical current to show in a more interesting way what electricity can do and how it can hurt people too.
Scott Shorter, the safety director for 27 CHS locations in the area, and several other employees were serious when talking about the dangers of chemicals if not used properly.
But they kept the students attention with a quiz showing how safe foods can look very much like dangerous chemicals, letting them try on safety goggles and gloves and squirting a safe liquid on a water color drawing to demonstrate how yard chemicals can harm the environment and people and animals if not used correctly.
Jon Klejeski of CHS was talking to students by some very big farm equipment and explaining why they needed to be careful around this machinery and also why they should not go into a field, for example, after a sprayer has left.
Ag safety lessons, Klejeski said, resonate with the students whether they live on a farm or not as everyone comes into to contact with items such as chemicals and electricity.
Ag Safety Day is nothing new in the Triton School District, said FFA Advisor Robert Ickler, but this was the first year that the program had been an all day event and only the second year the FFA was the major organizer.