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Special Assignment: Pizza teaches tasty lesson in ag

By Sue Sitter - | Apr 8, 2023

Submitted Photo Rugby FFA member Sophie Oppen, left, gives fourth graders in Kristen Heilman’s class a quiz on honey. The lesson was one of five in Special Assignment: Pizza, an activity to teach how agriculture produces the ingredients used to make pizza.

Fourth graders from Kristen Heilman’s class at Ely Elementary School gathered around a table in Memorial Hall on March 29 as Rugby Future Farmers of America chapter officers Ryleigh Keating and Ryan Slaubaugh talked about the seeds that make oil for pizza dough.

“Along with sunflowers, another seed we use in vegetable oil are soybeans,” Slaubaugh told the youngsters, holding up a sample of a seedpod and the soybeans inside.

“After harvest, I look around on the ground and I try to find pods and pop them to see the seeds,” fourth grader Elton Hackel said.

“I’ve done that before, too,” Keating smiled. “It’s kind of fun, isn’t it?”

Heilman’s class was one of three third and fourth grade classes from Ely and Little Flower Elementary Schools participating in Special Assignment: Pizza, a program sponsored by the North Dakota Farm Bureau that teaches children where the ingredients in their favorite food come from.

At the seed station, Heilman told her students she liked to feed her chickens sunflower seeds because of their high protein content.

Members of the Rugby High School FFA chapter served as teachers at each of five stations dedicated to pizza ingredients from grains, oils, honey used in crust and sauces, cheese and meat.

The students learned that many of the ingredients that go into pizza come from North Dakota farms.

Activities at the stations included putting magnetic puzzle pieces representing meat cuts on a cow or pig diagram, grinding wheat kernels, and taking quizzes on question boards.

Some of the elementary students and FFA members related to the lessons because they live on farms. Others live in Rugby. All students showed enthusiasm at each station, which ended with a corn and grain-themed corn hole game.

After all the activities ended, students ate slices of pepperoni and cheese pizza from Baldy’s Pizza of Rugby.

Teachers Liisa Foster of Ely Elementary and Nancy Follman of Little Flower Catholic Elementary also brought their classes to the event.

Joey Bailey, director of organizational development at the North Dakota Farm Bureau, said, “I’ve been with the farm bureau for 12 years, and it’s been done ever since I started. I’d say it’s probably close to 15 years this program’s been going. And of course, we’ve revamped stuff over the years.”

“There are a lot of interactive activities for the kids to keep their attention,” she added.

“At farm bureau, one of our missions is to educate about agriculture,” she said. “We love getting into schools and talking with kids about where their food comes from.”

“Before COVID, we were reaching about 8,000 students statewide with our Living Ag in the Classroom and Special Assignment Pizza (programs),” she said. “I’m happy to say that we’re back over 5,500 students this year. So, our numbers are rebounding. Every student we can reach is great.”

The bureau customizes lessons on sweeteners for sauces and crust depending on the location in North Dakota where the activities take place. In the eastern part of the state, the farm bureau promotes the sugar beets produced there. In Pierce County, central and western North Dakota, the bureau promotes honey production.

“Of course, sugar and honey aren’t a big component in pizza making, but we handed out recipe cards for the crust with honey as a sweetener, so the kids can take them home and make a pizza crust with that,” Bailey said.

“Everything else is either grown in North Dakota, or comes from ag,” she said. “It’s not necessarily just focusing on what North Dakota raises, but just agriculture in general.”

Rugby FFA Advisor Kristi Tonnessen said Special Assignment: Pizza is a favorite of high school FFA members and elementary students every year.

“It’s really fun,” she said of the high school students. “The kids enjoy it to share their passion for agriculture.”

“Some of them have siblings or cousins that they’re teaching,” Tonnessen added. “And they did it when they were fourth graders, so it’s really fun to see them take pride in it.”