Lee Road Junior High's Cecilia Morgan, 12, with pigs Cookies and Cream.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
Zoey Symons is one of many local students who will show animals at the St. Tammany Parish Fair, being held Oct. 2-6 at the parish fairgrounds in Covington.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
Zoey Symons gives a kiss to one of her 15 goats. The Pearl River High senior shows animals of kinds, but goats are her favorite.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
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Lee Road Junior High's Cecilia Morgan, 12, with pigs Cookies and Cream.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
Zoey Symons is one of many local students who will show animals at the St. Tammany Parish Fair, being held Oct. 2-6 at the parish fairgrounds in Covington.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
Zoey Symons gives a kiss to one of her 15 goats. The Pearl River High senior shows animals of kinds, but goats are her favorite.
- PROVIDED PHOTO
Pearl River High senior Zoey Symons could talk for days about her goats. All 15 of them, although her favorite is Hikorii, who has been Symons' “pride and joy” since getting her five years ago. Symons shows Hikorri at competitions, but she also shows hens, pigs, and cattle.
Then there is Cecilia Morgan, a 12-year-old Lee Road Junior High student who adores her pigs: Cookies and Cream. Cecilia Morgan cares for her swine daily, even though they live full-time at her school’s farm. Every day she’s there to feed them, train them and give them the occasional marshmallow as a treat.
These girls are just two of the students involved in the parish’s agriscience program offered at 12 schools in the district and covers myriad topics, from farming and caring for animals to cooking, woodworking, public speaking and even electrical work. Students in St. Tammany are learning practical skills they can take with them into the real world, explained Levi Morgan, an ag teacher at Boyet Junior High.
“My main focus with kids is to enable them to be more productive as adults,” he said.
Schools with ag programs include Boyet Junior High, Covington High, Creekside Junior High, Fifth Ward Junior High, Folsom Junior High, Fontainebleau Junior High, Fontainebleau High, Lakeshore High, Lee Road Junior High, Monteleone Junior High, Northshore High, Pearl River High and Slidell High.
But students in the ag program do much more than just sit in a classroom. They actively care for animals, often showing them at competitions like Cecilia Morgan and Zoey Symons do. But they also shine at events like the St. Tammany Parish Fair, where they run the fair’s minifarm.
Here, ag students from each of the schools take a shift at the minifarm, caring for the animals and educating fairgoers. At the minifarm, guests can interact with the animals, pet them and play with them with the assistance of these student volunteers.
This year’s St. Tammany Parish Fair runs from Oct. 2-6, and its minifarm opens the evening of Oct. 2 and runs through Oct. 5. The minifarm will feature chickens, ducks, goats, lambs and tortoise.
For fair organizers, this piece of the event is especially important to keep St. Tammany's agricultural history alive with the next generation. For many children, this may be the only place they can interact with farm animals, said Fair President Tommy Peters.
“Years ago, most families had someone in their family that actually lived on a farm, so they would visit those farms,” said Peters, explaining that with growth in the parish, those connections are fading. “So that mission is even more important now.”
Levi Morgan, who also oversees the minifarm program, added that, “When people don’t interact with animals, they lose connection of where our food comes from, and that is such an important thing to understand.”
As for ag students, the fair is an opportunity to work on public speaking skills, while also exercising their know-how. Zoey Symons has been volunteering at the fair since 2019. She said although it started as a requirement, she came to love it.
“At minifarm, I found a love for talking to those uneducated about the agriculture industry and fooling with the animals in the process,” said Zoey Symons, 17. “It makes me overjoyed to see the kids' eyes light up from seeing the ducklings roll down the makeshift ‘waterslide’ or when they ask question upon question.”
But the minifarm is just a jumping off point for many of the parish’s ag students who end up enthralled in the world of agriculture. Zoey Symons has gone on to earn two Industry-Based Certifications in drone engineering and meat processing. She also participates in career and leadership development events, is president of her school’s National FFA Organization chapter and is currently serving as the National and Louisiana Junior Angus Association Queen. She’s involved in 4H and regularly shows animals, a skill that requires continual training, developing trust with animals and public presentations.
“I enjoy every little thing that showing involves: the preparation to show these animals, shaking the judge’s hand, helping those who are interested in showing, and hopefully winning a prize for all of my hard work,” she said.
The St. Tammany Parish Fair also includes a livestock show, where many kids get their start, said Levi Morgan.
His daughter, Cecilia Morgan, will show her pigs this year. She uses “stick training” to get them ready and develop trust.
“It teaches me responsibility, and I get new friends,” said Cecilia Morgan who is already slated to compete at the parish and district shows. “Everybody in the pig barn is family.”
The benefits of the ag programs, and their intertwining with the fair, are “immense,” added Zoey Symon’s mom, Britanee Symons. It’s something she has seen in her daughter firsthand.
“I cannot express how important these programs are for all youth,” said Britanee Symons, who is also an agriscience teacher at Creekside Junior High. “Not only does it increase their ability to care for something other than themselves, but it teaches them responsibility and compassion.”
It can also inspire a future career. Zoey Symons hopes to use her skills in the coming years to one day open her own farm-to-table restaurant. And working with animals hasn’t just taught her life skills, it has taught her perseverance.
“This takes grit, courage, responsibility, and a high level of commitment to keep on keeping on in this industry,” she said. “One is not born with those qualities, you are made.”