By Angel  Perkins Staff Writer
BOURBON — Triton’s Agricultural Sciences teacher and FFA sponsor Mike Emenaker put the works of his students in the spotlight before the school board this week. Using a slideshow-type, projected presentation, he showed moments involving many of the student activities, learning experiences and field trips.
A rafting excursion taught allowed them to study soil samples, forestry and endangered mussels native to and thriving in the Tippecanoe River.
During the competitive learning trip, each raft was filled with two students from various area schools. The five-day event was divided in that way to be fair, and resulted in students from each group (thus each school) having a winner.

 Other scenes were shown of students involved in welding and woodworking and several photos featured students involved in chainsaw and firearms safety activities. For the latter, the group went to Back 40 Sporting Clays property in Bourbon where the Meister family allowed the full use of their equipment and services to the group at no charge.
While Emenaker is a certified firearms safety instructor, he and local conservation officers assisted in teaching gun safety and the officers attendance allowed the students to handle several types of firearms that normally, they would not have access to.
“This is the only school system that sponsors this type of trip,” Emenacher said. “It’s good for them to be aware of the different kinds (of guns). When I asked them how many of them had firearms at home, almost every one of them raised their hand.”
Also displayed were photos of a Grandparent’s Day luncheon,  a trip to the high school rodeo and a recent trip to Indianapolis for the FFA Convention. There students visited an agricultural career center and met with one of the authors of the texts that they study.
With 82 student members this year, Emenacher said the numbers have steadily risen even though he had made membership requirements a little more strict. “They have to pay $12 which goes to state and national dues and they have to sell seven boxes of fruit,” he said. “When we started we were selling 350 to 380 boxes. This year we sold about 1,200.”
And not only are the member numbers up, the number of females getting involved is steadily increasing. “We used to have a lot of guys in the club but the girls are taking over,” Emenacher explained.
He also noted several area businesses, school staff and administration for their assistance at making the classes and club so successful. By Angel  Perkins
Staff Writer

BOURBON — Triton’s Agricul-tural Sciences teacher and FFA sponsor Mike Emenaker put the works of his students in the spotlight before the school board this week. Using a slideshow-type, projected presentation, he showed moments involving many of the student activities, learning experiences and field trips.
A rafting excursion taught allowed them to study soil samples, forestry and endangered mussels native to and thriving in the Tippecanoe River.
During the competitive learning trip, each raft was filled with two students from various area schools. The five-day event was divided in that way to be fair, and resulted in students from each group (thus each school) having a winner.
 Other scenes were shown of students involved in welding and woodworking and several photos featured students involved in chainsaw and firearms safety activities. For the latter, the group went to Back 40 Sporting Clays property in Bourbon where the Meister family allowed the full use of their equipment and services to the group at no charge.
While Emenaker is a certified firearms safety instructor, he and local conservation officers assisted in teaching gun safety and the officers attendance allowed the students to handle several types of firearms that normally, they would not have access to.
“This is the only school system that sponsors this type of trip,” Emenacher said. “It’s good for them to be aware of the different kinds (of guns). When I asked them how many of them had firearms at home, almost every one of them raised their hand.”
Also displayed were photos of a Grandparent’s Day luncheon,  a trip to the high school rodeo and a recent trip to Indianapolis for the FFA Convention. There students visited an agricultural career center and met with one of the authors of the texts that they study.
With 82 student members this year, Emenacher said the numbers have steadily risen even though he had made membership requirements a little more strict. “They have to pay $12 which goes to state and national dues and they have to sell seven boxes of fruit,” he said. “When we started we were selling 350 to 380 boxes. This year we sold about 1,200.”
And not only are the member numbers up, the number of females getting involved is steadily increasing. “We used to have a lot of guys in the club but the girls are taking over,” Emenacher explained.
He also noted several area businesses, school staff and administration for their assistance at making the classes and club so successful.