Superintendent’s Spotlight: Joe Sanzone and A.J. Kobrick

Warwick Valley High School’s Joe Sanzone and A.J. Kobrick won team and individual blue ribbons at the Orange County Fair and the Otisville Country Fair this summer. Joe, a junior, and A.J., a sophomore, are both in the school’s Agricultural Technology program.

The students competed at the summer fairs as a means of applying the knowledge they gained during the school year and putting those skills to use in the community. The Future Farmers of America (FFA) encourages students to learn leadership skills and participate in career development events where they can learn about careers in agriculture and build community ties and network with individuals in the community within the various fields in agriculture.  FFA sequences include classroom instruction, Student Supervised Agricultural Experiences (like internships) and FFA club activities.

“The kids are building confidence, they’re growing personally in their knowledge, and building friendships,” said WVHS FFA Advisor and an Agricultural Technology program teacher Michelle Ehlers. The program has a total of eight courses – Land, Food and People; Landscape Design; Equipment Repair; Floral Design; Animal Science; Conservation, Wildlife and Land Management; and Veterinary Science 1 and 2.

During the summer, the students came to school to prepare for contests and plan, research and work on FFA projects as well as study for FFA career and development events, under the direction of Ms. Ehlers. Joe and A.J. were part of a 12-member team that won a group blue ribbon in the Landscape Display category at both fairs. The project was a display of a pond with wooden fish where visitors of the display at the fairs could read, fish and learn about the species of fish native to New York State that they “caught.” Blue ribbon winners can then compete at the New York State Fair.

Joe won individual identification project and project blue ribbons at the county fair that included Horticulture Identification, Field Crop Identification, Wildlife Identification and Tree Identification; and at the Otisville fair that included Vegetable Crop Identification, Wildlife Identification and Field Crop Identification.

A.J. won individual identification project and project blue ribbons at the county fair that included Vegetable Crop Identification and Conservation; and at the Otisville fair that included Conservation.

Joe began taking agriculture courses at the school and joined FFA as a freshman. He is also working on completing his Eagle project – building a dog park at Veterans Memorial Park.

“A lot of people think FFA is a lot about farming and driving tractors, and we do that, but it is less about that and more about leadership and talking to people,” Joe said. “We do competitions over the winter, and also a lot of it is about public speaking and job interviews, and building life skills. A lot of people they don’t really see beyond the surface of FFA.”

Ms. Ehlers said the students are put into learning situations where they are introduced to topics that they might become passionate about.

“It’s about giving students opportunities to become more confident leaders,” she said. “And this is all done through agricultural education. It’s a leadership club.”

Joe said the skills he has learned so far have been helpful in his Eagle project. He has needed his new leadership and communication skills, working as a project manager and collaborating with various entities, such as the Warwick Department of Public Works, to get aspects of the project, like fence construction, complete.

A.J. said his interest in agriculture courses grew from when he took Land, Food and People, the program’s base course that teaches about the fields within agriculture, and that his grandfather has a farm in Pine Island.

“Initially, when I joined FFA I didn’t know about all the leadership stuff we were going to do,” he said. “But, I want to participate because it will be a great experience to go to other schools and participate in these competitions. Whatever I want to do, I know public speaking and leadership will help in some way, shape or form.”

A.J. Kobrick (secretary of the Warwick Valley FFA Club), Alex O’Neill (sentinel), Ally Ross (president), Holly Frischknecht (vice president) and Joe Sanzone (treasurer)