Splash is kicking off fall field trips at the educational Nicolaus Dairy campus in Elk Grove. We’ve already celebrated the success of two field trips during the month of October! It’s been heartwarming and exciting to see students engaging in science, history, and outdoor discovery, together, safe and in-person. We are ecstatic to see the positive results of this program launch, and we have tons of positive teacher, parent and student feedback to boot!
We had a wonderful field trip for 3rd-5th grade Girl Scouts. Our docents did an amazing job running our stations which included exploration of the garden beds and tree orchards on site, an interactive tour of the historic milk barn, and two make-and-take projects, which included a mini hydroponics garden and a branded leather cow ear tag key chain! Everyone was engaged, learned a lot, and loved every station. Three additional Splash volunteers stepped up to the plate to make the day flow seamlessly. Thank you, Bob Brown, Cynthia Tuck, and Paige Thionnet, for joining us! Everyone was safe, happy, and feeling the love of learning in this local gem of the central valley. The site is truly incredible.
A team of Dairy 4H and FFA students joined us for our next field trip. The team was made up of middle school and high school students. The chaperones who attended were dairy farmers, themselves, and contributed to the roundtable discussion at each educational station. It was clear this field trip rekindled and deeply inspired students’ interest in the dairy industry. We watched them blossom throughout the day, sharing about their passions, knowledge of the industry,
and their work with dairy animals. This program inspires more youth in our region to understand where their food and dairy come from, know the resources it takes to nutritionally sustain our region, and pursue careers in agriculture to fulfill the next generation of farmers – something our central valley truly needs. We’re making an effort to encourage students to think up new ways for farming practices to be more environmentally sustainable.
Here is some feedback we received from our field trip surveys!
Girl Scout Student Surveys:
- How interesting or fun were the activities?
- 100% answered 5/5-one child even said “2.5 quintillion out of 5”
- How would you rate your experience to friends or family?
- 100% answered 5/5-one added “Must come!”
Girl Scout Troop Leader and Chaperone Surveys:
- “Had such a fun time! Loved the staff!”
- “All activities were fun and informative!”
- “Loved hands-on activities!”
Dairy 4H and FFA Student Surveys:
- “This is a fun new way to learn!” – Dairy FFA Student
- “I want to tell my family to check this place out!” – Dairy 4H Student
- “Thank you, I loved it! Big thanks.” – Dairy FFA Student
Dairy 4H and FFA Teacher and Chaperone Surveys:
- How helpful, knowledgeable, respectful, and enthusiastic were the docents?
- 100% answered 5/5
- Did we help students learn new concepts or present new experiences?
- 100% answered Yes
- Did the students make connections to prior lessons (in 4H/FFA studies)?
- 100% answered Yes
We can’t wait to bring more kids out to explore the property! We are lining up more field trips and encouraging the 30 plus teachers who are teaching the Project AWE curriculum in class to find safe ways to get their students to the site so they can experience the culminating field trip.
