Agriculture Strong at Allen

Members of area FFA chapters flood the halls of Allen Community College during one of the many events hosted at the Iola Campus in the fall.

Members of area FFA chapters flood the halls of Allen Community College during one of the many events hosted at the Iola Campus in the fall.

Gage Ruark, Activities Editor

Allen Community College offers many different areas of studies, including Agriculture and Farming. Like the other activities and majors, the Ag program has many things to offer students it’s students.

“Many of the students in our program come from small farming towns; we offer many classes for the students interested in our program.” Terry Powelson said, one of the Ag educators at Allen. “We mainly focus on the Associate Degrees for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Farm and Ranch Management.”

An Associate’s Degree in Agriculture and Natural Resources is for students who are interested in attending a four year university and then getting a career in fields ranging from Coop Management to Livestock and Grain Production.

The degree for Farm and Ranch Management is for the students who plan to go and work on a family ranch or who plan on joining the workforce after receiving their degree.

The Ag program at Allen works close with four year universities, like Fort Hays and Kansas State University, to give the students involved an opportunity to get a look at their future education.

Allen also offers scholarships for the Livestock Judging Team, which involves analyzing animals and judging them off a set of criteria. The judging team travels to many different events throughout the year, including a trip to the Collegiate Farm Bureau Industry Tour in Dodge City in late 2017.

As of right now, the Ag program only offers scholarships for the Livestock Judging Team due to the loss of scholarship money in the past. However, Powelson hopes to, in the future, be able to add more scholarships for the students. Along with scholarships, Powelson talks of building a facility for the students to be able to study animals and other subjects in order to get a more hands on education.