By LACEY PETERSON

The Union Democrat

In the age of iPods, reality TV and MySpace, it may come as a surprise that some teenagers are still interested in animals, agriculture and farming.

Nearly 500 students in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties are members of the FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America).

The 200 FFA students at Sonora High School will be hosting a Polish barbecue and stick-horse race this week to celebrate National FFA week, which will end Saturday.

The Sonora High program offers ROP (Regional Occupation Program) welding, Ag Mechanics I and II, floral design, Ag Earth and Ag Science I through IIII. They have a prepared public speaker, who will compete at the regional finals this spring, and a Best in Form Greenhand Team, which is tested on FFA History.

The welding team goes to the Occupational Olympics and the Chico State and Butte College Field Day every year. FFA officers are sent every four or five years to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and every year attend the state convention in Fresno.

"It's changed over time," said Jennifer Delnero, a Sonora High agriculture instructor. "It's not the traditional ag program it was years ago, but it still meets student's needs."

They stress leadership and community service, said Stan Kellogg, also an agriculture instructor.

The barbecue will be a fundraiser for the FFA chapter to send students to conventions and competitions, said Kendra Brennan, 16, of Sonora. Brennan is the FFA chapter president and the prepared public speaker.

"Kellogg's pretty good about taking us places," she said.

The Sonora High chapter has a parliamentary procedure team and livestock judging teams, Brennan said.

The officers also work to recruit eighth graders into the Ag program, said Vice-President Maurice Camara, 17, of Sonora.

Bret Harte High School is hosting a barrage of activities starting Tuesday, beginning with a barbecue lunch the FFA classes will host.

Today, between 600 and 900 elementary school students will arrive to tour a petting zoo the FFA students will be hosting. The children will go around to different stations petting rabbits, ducks, geese, chickens, lambs, a pony and guinea pigs. They will also be able to color and plant flowers.

On Thursday, there will be a FFA member lunch, and Friday the students will make their first planting in their newly-renovated greenhouse.

"I think the kids like the hands-on aspect of the program," said Roy Beck, high school agriculture department chairman and FFA advisor.

There are 212 students in FFA at Bret Harte, and next year, Beck believes, there will probably be more.

Although the numbers vary every year, the number of students enrolled in agriculture class goes up nearly every year, Beck said. Last year, the program grew 20 percent.

Bret Harte has an Ag Science Center, a state-of-the-art greenhouse and an aquaculture center where students raise catfish.

They have a rabbitry where they raise about 50 female rabbits. The students raise the rabbits and fish and sell them, along with the flowers they grow. Some students also show the rabbits at the Calaveras County Fair.

Bret Harte has ag science classes, beginning and advanced shop classes where students weld, cut, build and do construction projects. The school also offers a wildlife natural resource management class, where students are building wood duck boxes.

The nest boxes are an attempt to increase local populations of the ducks, Beck said.

Think that's a lot of ag? There's more.

Bret Harte also boasts several judging teams, or career development events. Students can participate on various teams, including dairy, poultry and floriculture. They compete against other schools in the state and often compete nationally, Beck said. Students on a judging team have to learn about a specific topic, like dairy, and then take tests — both written and experiential — and give speeches. Students competing on poultry judging teams have to judge chickens dead and alive, eggs, and cuts of chicken. They also take a test in poultry management.

"Each of the events is set up to be competitive," Beck said.

One FFA student also competes as a public speaker on an agriculture topic. This year's topic is California agriculture subsidies, Beck said.

Some students also attend the national FFA convention every year.

The Summerville High School FFA program is different than the Sonora and Angels Camp programs in that it will not celebrate National FFA Week this week. They will celebrate it the week of March 3 through 8, ending with the Sadie Hawkins Dance, which the FFA chapter hosts each year.

There are agriculture classes, but only 50 of the students are in the FFA. The FFA kids have lunch meetings on Thursdays and do both book work and work on the school farm. There are two barns, pigs, turkeys and soon to be a couple of lambs, said Chris Wells, FFA chapter president.

The students breed their own animals for showing at the fair.

"We make a pretty good showing at the fair," said Wells, 17, of Twain Harte.

During their celebration, there will be dress-up days, and all students will participate in the activities, not just the FFA members.

Their programs stands out, Wells said, because, "We're the only school in our area that has a farm."

There are more than 500,000 students in FFA in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Contact Lacey Peterson at lpeterson@uniondemo-crat.com or 588-4540.