FFA & Ag. Shop Memories

[rrausch]

Anybody have any good FFA or Ag. Shop Memories from High School?



We had a 3 hour Ag. Shop twice a week, and our teacher, Mr. Grieb, would sometimes leave while we practiced welding, made pipe gates etc. He didn't care too much what we worked on, as long as we were welding, etc. So one day I towed my old '46 Chevy Panel truck into the shop and custom bent and installed a roll bar in it. He seemed ok with it, so the next shop period I trailered in a Pontiac Tri-Power V-8 and started putting it in the Panel Truck. He was out for a few days, and I got in all installed pretty good (for a first time project) and out the door before he realized what I had done!



Another time I put a cut-out on a buddies '55 Olds! He just pulled it in the shop door and Mr. Grieb asked what I was going to do and I said, "Weld on the exhaust pipe", which was true in a way! :-laf



Mr. Greib was the best teacher I ever had. Always willing to show us how to do stuff, imparted a LOT of farming & mechanical wisdom to us and then turned us loose!

 

[ndurbin]

My senior year I was in the Ag shop 6 outta the 7 hours of the day. Junior year I was in there about half the day. I never really made much for myself, other than one trailer. I mostly worked/built stuff for other people. Teacher was pretty cool he staid outta my hair and let me pretty much do whatever I wanted my senior year.



I wont get into some of the FFA/Ag trips we took.



Nathan

 

[Greenleaf]

I Luved Ag class and FFA!!!!!! Real good time w/tons of memories!!!

Still have my two, blue,cordoroy jackets and can recall some of the parlimentary proceedure.



Scott

 

[Sled Puller]

Grandpa taught Ag for 45 years at out school. Sadly, he retired 10 years before I was old enough. It was run into the ground by that time, so I went to Vo-Tech.



They had purchased their own farm from fundraisers, and as the years went by, it was slowly confiscated by the school district-new elementary school, ball fields, etc.

Lastly, they shut the shop down, and turned it into a weight room for the football team.



Afterall, sports is more important than learning to raise food.





The community appreciated his service though, and dedicated a livestock show arena to him at the local fairgrounds. Nothing could have been more fitting!

 

[Larry Willard]

Yea I too still have that blue jacket in the closet... bet I can't get in it after 34 years. We had a great time, learned a lot too, everything from welding, painting, mechanical to doing electric wiring. Painted a wagon red 1 day, only to have to spend a week compounding all the red spots off all the cars from the wind blowing. Then the teacher asked me to show a couple classmates how to hook up a battery charger, 1 student was playing around with the air hose and blew battery acid in my face, good thing I wore glasses back then, and I was over that tractor instantly giving him a good old fashion whooping there in class!

Larry

 

[1stgen4evr]

Afterall, sports is more important than learning to raise food

Well I still know how and will if I need to. Raise food that is. Not too sure about the kids graduating now days. The worst part about sports now is that kids don't seem to enjoy that the way we used to. Waaay too competitive.



James

 

[rrausch]

As a nation we're losing our farm heritage and we will be the worse for it I fear.



But back to Ag Shop. One of the tricks we used to play was to watch for a first-year guy practicing welding--he'd be all hunkered over his welding table sweating bullets trying to get his bead right--he wouldn't be paying any attention to what was going on around him, and one of us would get a 3/4 inch nut and heat it cherry-red with a torch. Then, holding it with a pliers we'd place it very gently on the toe of his shoe. The guy would be concentrating so hard, he wouldn't even notice... for a minute or so... then you'd hear a scream!!



I too have that blue jacket in the closet. It's a little faded, my aunt wore it a lot until she died at age 98 several years ago. Memories!!

 

[PJereb]

I spent a lot of time up in the AG shop. The teacher, Harry Sampson had a good sense of humor. Worked on a lot of different projects, a tow able livestock ramp, a livestock trailer, a VW buggy, and a bunch of other random things. Whenever we had a substitute teacher there was always lots of mischief going on, seeing what the 400 amp arc welder could do to a dead rat, acetylene explosions, and more. Of course whenever Mr. Sampson came back he would be upset from the disgruntled note from the substitute, and then we could count on watching FFA sheep judging videos for a few days straight before we could go back in the shop.