CLEARFIELD – On Sept. 22, more than 280 local second-grade students, teachers and volunteers gathered at the Clearfield County Fairgrounds to take part in Clearfield County’s 15th Annual Progressive Agriculture Safety Day.
Schools participating included Clearfield Area Elementary School, St. Francis School and West Branch Elementary School.
Clearfield Alliance Christian School also took part in a Virtual Progressive Agriculture Safety Day held inside their classroom for first- and second-grade students.
Jana Davidson, education content specialist with the Progressive Agriculture Foundation, served as the Safety Day coordinator.
Davidson stated, “I think I speak for everyone when I say, it felt so good to be back in-person this year. Last year, we had to break from tradition and hold our event virtually but were still able to reach children with important and potentially life-saving safety and health messages.
“However, nothing can top the experience of being in-person and seeing the information delivered in a fun, unique and hands-on way.
“The smiling faces of the attentive students, support of the teachers, and the dedication of our community volunteers, has truly proved to be the winning combination for the program’s success year after year.”
Since 2007, this program has reached more than 5,000 students, teachers and volunteers locally in its 15-year history.
“With the COVID pandemic still prevalent, we did our very best to ensure all participants were safe and healthy during the entire duration of the event and had full cooperation,” added Davidson.
This included omitting all large group demonstrations, keeping students socially distanced and separated from other classes, having hand sanitizers available at each station, wearing masks and asking our presenters to clean their stations and props between groups.
For 2021, 13 stations were offered on the following topic areas: ATV (all-terrain vehicle) Safety, Bullying, Chemical Safety, 911, Dog Safety, Electric Safety, Home Fire Prevention and Fire Escape Planning, Identify Theft, Pedestrian Safety, Personal Safety, Tobacco & Nicotine Prevention and Water Safety.
In addition to receiving more than four hours of safety and health education on these topic areas, each student received a certificate, T-shirt and a take-home bag filled with information and resources from the participating businesses and organizations.
Students, teachers and volunteers were also treated to a delicious lunch made possible by pizza from Buck’s Pizza of Clearfield, milk and orange juice donated by Dean Foods and cookies donated by the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center (CCCTC) Culinary Department.
Local supporters included the American Red Cross, Buck’s Pizza of Clearfield, Clearfield County Fair & Park Board, Clearfield County Farm Bureau, Clearfield County Emergency Management, Clearfield Jefferson Drug & Alcohol Commission, Highway Safety Network, CNB Bank, Community Action Inc. Crossroads Project, PASSAGES Inc., Penn State Extension in Clearfield County, Slippery Rock University Aquatics Department/Clearfield YMCA, Lindsie Wisor – State Farm Insurance Agent and United Electric Cooperative.
Progressive Agriculture Safety Days is recognized as the largest rural safety and health education program for children in North America reaching more than 1.8 million children and adults since 1995.
In addition to local support, the program is sponsored nationally by the following five-star and four-star partners: Bunge, Nutrien, TC Energy, CHS, John Deere, Farm Credit, Cargill, Enbridge, Corteva and Polaris.
For more information on the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program, visit www.progressiveag.org.
To get involved with this program locally as a volunteer or sponsor, please reach out to Jana Davidson at 814-592-2465 or jdavidson@progressiveag.org.
