News release issued June 8, 2000, effective immediately.
For media inquiries, contact Caroline Booth Lara, Communications Specialist, (580) 224-6379.
  email: cblara@noble.org

AgVenture Participants Learn about Real Ag World

ARDMORE, Okla. ? High school students from Texas and Oklahoma participating in AgVenture 2000 had their hands full, literally, as they learned first-hand how to vaccinate cattle, manipulate livestock, seine a pond, set and put out a prescribed burn, and safely fire a shotgun.

Those attending the ag camp were: Oklahoma - Whitney Ballard, Foster; Dean Tyler, Maysville; Gatz Graf, Marlow; Brett Hill, Konawa; Chris Jarrell, Stratford; Daniel Key, Colbert; Justin Maxey, Lenapah; JoAnn Muller, Lawton; August Reyher, Comanche; Casey Russell, Durant; Megan Smith, Lawton; and Heather Worley, Ringling; Texas - Christen Lindsey, Farmers Branch; Jeremy Maxwell, Bellevue; Clint Minnick, Ravenna; and Trent Phillips, Henrietta.

The 16 selected AgVenture participants spent May 30-June 2 at various Noble Foundation properties in southern Oklahoma while learning about a variety of agriculture-related topics selected to help interested students in pursuing careers in agriculture.

"I have worked with several different youth education programs and have taught ecology to college students, but I have never felt as honored to be associated with a group of students as I am of this group," said Rob Self, AgVenture 2000 coordinator at the Noble Foundation.

"These students truly are some of the best and brightest and I hope they do purse a career in agriculture and make the industry better by doing so," Self said. AgVenture 2000 coordinators made some changes in the Noble Foundation program. The Foundation is a nonprofit agriculture and plant biology research organization headquartered in Ardmore, Okla.

"This year I included some new topics hoping to expose the kids to some areas of agricultural they might not have been exposed to," Self said. "I invited speakers from the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy, Mahard Egg Farm, and Excel (meat packing plant), and we visited Inslee Fish Farm and the Polo Horse Ranch.

"The students definitely left here sunburned, wore out and hopefully a little more knowledgeable about the variety of careers available in agriculture."

Other topics covered during the information-paced four days included deer population management, hoop-house horticulture, native grass ecology and management, prescribed burning, livestock handling, pond management, and ag communications. The group also toured the Foundation and participated in a deer spotlight survey and a packer-feeder game conducted by Oklahoma State University staff.

"AgVenture was truly a group effort," Self said. "Forty out of the 50 Noble Foundation Ag Division employees were involved in some way."

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Downloadable Photos of Ag Venture 2000 Participants

(FYI — The Noble Foundation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization headquartered in Ardmore, Okla. The Foundation conducts agricultural and plant biology research; provides grants to numerous other charitable and educational organizations; and assists farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative programs.)