814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Novamber 15,1986
Lehigh Co. Teacher Wins State Award
For Outstanding Agri-Science Program
BY SUZANNE KEENE
SCHNECKSVILLE Because
technology has changed the way
food is produced, knowledge and
skills in agri-science are vital for
today’s farmer.
Basic skills in production
agriculture will no longer suffice.
The farmer of the 80s and 90s will
be using revolutionary
technologies like estrus syn
chronization, embryo splitting and
livestock confinement systems to
boost ag production to ever higher
levels.
To provide students with the
competitive edge they will need to
succeed in agricultural careers,
vocational agriculture teachers
are incorporating current agri
science technology into their
curricula.
This week the National FFA
honored several ag teachers for
emphasizing agri-science
technology in their instructional
programs. Twelve regional
finalists traveled to the FFA
National Convention in Kansas
City, Mo. to compete for the
National Agri-Science Teacher of
the Year Award.
Frederic Stillwagen, the state
award winner in Pennsylvania and
one of three Eastern Region
finalists, was among those
honored.
An agriculture teacher at Lehigh
County AVTS, Stillwagen says, “I
am very proud. I know there are a
lot of other ag teachers doing as
good a job as I am.”
He believes the awards program
will help to strengthen vocational
agriculture in the schools and
hopes the resulting publicity will
help the public to understand
agriculture better. “It’s going to
help ag and vo-ag education,”
Stillwagen said.
“I don’t think the public knows
what vocational agriculture is.
They think it’s cows, plows and
sows.”
But having worked as a
vocational agriculture teacher for
15 years, StUlwagen realizes that
his students will need to know
more than how to fix a tractor
when they graduate from high
school
“Ag is becoming more technical
and will in the future also,” he
said.
His award winning curriculum
takes a scientific approach to the
study of lamb growth and
development and involves the
study of animal anatomy and
physiology. The school’s FFA
chapter, Lehigh County FFA, owns
and finances a flock of Southdown
shr
Stillwagen's award-winning curriculum revolves around iptei of
Southdown sheep. Here, he measures a ewe while students (from left) Wendy Rosen
berger, Christine Frisch, Joe Kirk, Patty Hilbert and Dan Wehr, look on.
Lehigh County Area Vocational Technical School, has been
named a state winner and a regional finalist in the National
FFA Agri-Science Teacher of the Year Award Program.
Each student gets a lamb at
birth and is required to take size
and weight measurements and to
record them on a bar graph.
The students follow their lamb’s
development closely for a year,
taking measurements each week
until the lambs are weaned.' After
weaning, the measurements are
recorded each month.
Stillwagen and his students are
searching for a growth pattern. If
their study shows growth spurts at
particular times, Stillwagen ex
plained, they will know when to
increase feed for peak efficiency.
The program also includes a
study of the estrus cycle of
seasonal breeds of sheep. By in
jecting ewes with hormonal
treatments, Stillwagen and his
students are trying to alter the
estrus cycle for a two-lamb crop
per year.
The demand for lamb has in
creased, he explained, but the
supply is seasonal. If the hormonal
injections are successful, a second
lamb crop in the fall would be
possible. “We’re delving into it
pretty good,” Stillwagen said. The
study of environmental factors like
light and temperature is the next
step in the program.
Stillwagen believes the program
is good “because it develops the
student’s ability to think.” In
addition to taking the
measurements and recording
them, students are required to
analyze the results.
“We need to give them all
around skills,” Stillwagen
stressed. Employers are looking
for workers who can think and who
know how to work.
In addition to the skills he
teaches in the classroom,
Stillwagen says he strives to boost
his students’ self confidence. “A lot
of kids don’t realize how good they
are,” he said.
Pupils have an opportunity to
test themselves in the vo-ag
program and when they are suc
cessful they become more con
fident of their abilities.
The students are responsible for
taking care of the sheep and they
make all breeding decisions. The
school’s flock has three bloodlines
and usually “holds its own” in
shows, Stillwagen noted.
The emphasis is on homegrown
animals and he encourages
students to continue producing,
rather than buying, winners after
graduation.
As they pursue careers in
agriculture or continue their
studies at colleges or technical
schools, Stillwagen's pupils will
put to use the skills and confidence
learned in the animal science
program at Lehigh AVTS.
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