Golden Valley FFA students dive into turfgrass industry

The Golden Valley High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter in Merced, Calif., is teaching students about landscape management and lawn care through hands-on experience at different sports stadiums, fields and arenas. Through the program, student athletes are learning to care for the fields on which they play. 

“This program has allowed our students to explore and experience agriculture in a non-traditional sense and in a way that relates to them,” said Kevin Magill, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Golden Valley High School. “Members are learning the value of taking care of the sports fields and arenas they play in.” 

The program is specifically designed to focus on sports facilities and how to maintain them, attracting many student athletes to take the class so they have the opportunity to take care of the fields they play on. 

“As someone who plays sports, it’s important to me to have a field that’s ready to play on when it’s game time,” said Grayson Dockstader, a Golden Valley FFA member. “I take pride in knowing not only do I get to play on these fields we tend, but I know how to take care of them.” 

Select members of the Golden Valley chapter who are involved in the turf and sports field management program have had the opportunity to travel to various sporting facilities, including the golf course at Pebble Beach, Oracle Park in San Francisco and the University of Southern California’s Coliseum. One group of students even had the chance to visit and tend to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., before the Super Bowl. 

FFA is a school-based youth leadership development organization in the country with more than 1,042,245 student members as part of 9,407 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.