Local agriculture students begin raising livestock on campus, unsure if county fair will be held

NIPOMO, Calif. -- A small group of students have returned to the Nipomo High School campus.

Lucia Mar Unified School District recently allowed agriculture students the opportunity to come back to the school to raise livestock at the campus barn.

"It feels great," said FFA student James Philson. "It's been a rough couple of weeks being at home, and staying in the same place, and being able to come out here and take care and raise our animals, I like that feeling. I like that we can still come here and participate in FFA and agriculture."

The students are the first to be allowed back onto campus for educational purposes since school was closed three weeks ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We were faced with the decision, whether we were going to halt our plans or continue on, and so as we all know, agriculture is an essential industry, and we feel like these projects are essential for kids, said FFA instructor Rosemary Cummings. "This decision wasn't made lightly. We collaborated together as a staff and an administration to make sure that we can continue this experience for the students, so the policies that we put in place, we believe are safe."

Those rules are strictly being enforced in order for the program to continue.

"We are keeping our social distancing," said student Lindsy Mendoza-Ortiz. "We are not trying to get closer to any other showman, not less than six feet. We are wearing gloves, so we make sure that we are safe, not touching anything that is unnecessary to touch. We also have hand sanitizer all over our facility."

Students are also working in shifts, some come during the morning, others in the afternoon.

"We have a schedule where a limited number soon come out in the morning and in the afternoon, so they share responsibilities," said Cummings. "For example, this morning we had four sheep exhibitors, so they fed all the animals for the other 16 kids that are here, so we take turns."

It's created a unique situation, since students are expected to tend only to their own animal on a daily basis, but it's also proving to be beneficial as well.

"It's definitely a teamwork effort at this point. We're taking care of different animals, making sure all of them are healthy, well fed, checking every stall, making sure their pen clean. Cleanliness is the focal point right now," said Philson. "It ups the responsibility level from just your animal to now you're taking a care of a lot of animals. It actually puts you into a leadership role as an FFA student."

Cummings points out that while the current situation isn't ideal, it's actually being used an unexpected learning opportunity, not only for students, the public too.

"One of the silver linings in this pandemic is the need to feed our country, and have the skills to know the importance of contributing back to our communities and feeding our community," Cummings said. "Although the pandemic is disheartening, we're teaching these kids skills that could contribute to the sustainability of our own society."

As students begin the task of raising an animal, they're doing so not knowing if they will be able to show and sell their livestock at the Santa Barbara County Fair.

The annual event is held at the Santa Maria Fairpark in mid-July. However, the ongoing pandemic is leaving the status of this year's fair in doubt.

"I'm praying for it," said Philson. "My fingers are crossed, but if we don't have a fair, that's going to be really tough, but in my head, I've said, we're going to have a fair. We're just hoping for the best."

Even if the Santa Barbara County Fair is cancelled, Cummings said back-up plans are in the works.

"We hope that the Fair will continue, but in the event that it doesn't, we will have a way to showcase the hard work of our students, whether it’s a small community fair here at Nipomo High School or a larger one within the district," said Cummings. "We don’t know what that looks like, but we will showcase their learning and their hard work."

According to Lucia Mar Unified School District, Arroyo Grande High School FFA students are also being allowed to raise animals at the campus agriculture facility.

The same set of strict scheduling, social distancing and sanitation rules are also in effect.