SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Santa Maria’s Pioneer Valley High School is getting some nationwide recognition.
The college’s agriculture division was named the ‘Outstanding Large Agriculture Program’ in California.
The college was honored through the California Agriculture Teacher’s Association Conference at Cal Poly in late June.
The college had beforehand been named the ‘Outstanding Agricultural Program’ for the California’s South Coast Region, which stretches down the coast from San Jose to Los Angeles.
Pioneer Valley’s Agriculture Department presents quite a lot of agriculture programs and permits college students to earn business commonplace certifications and faculty credit score. Students are additionally in a position to become involved with the FFA via Supervised Agricultural Experience Projects, or SAE initiatives.
“We have students with small plant SAE projects, Ag Mechanics students build furniture, farm equipment, BBQ pits, and we have many students raise livestock. We are fortunate to have many students work in agriculture production as paid placement SAEs. In 2021, our students invested nearly 44,000 hours and a total asset value of over $900,000 in their SAE projects. Leadership is also a major component of the program. Each year we have numerous students attend leadership conferences, participate in speaking competitions, travel throughout the state to compete in agricultural judging competitions, and run for leadership positions at the chapter, sectional, regional, and state level. The success of the Pioneer Valley FFA leadership component is evident through the many accolades earned in 2021 alone; including a State Champion soils judging team, 2 sectional officers, 2 regional officers, 1 state officer, 2 state proficiency award winners, and 31 State Degree recipients. We continue to strive to be the best youth organization that we can provide for our community, and we look forward to continuing the successful traditions we have built for FFA and agriculture education on our campus,” stated Marcie Guerra, FFA advisor and trainer, in a press launch.
A faculty district spokesman says that is the primary time the highschool has obtained this nationwide award.