North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension – Ramsey County – was excited to host the first of what will be an annual Progressive Agriculture Safety Day. The Extension Office hosted 155 fifth-grade students from the county at the Memorial Building on April 13, 2023.

At this event, students rotated to eight different sessions including home alone, drug awareness, farm safety, stress management and mental wellness, vaping awareness, ATV and snowmobile safety, water and sun safety, and internet safety. Extension staff partnered with well-versed presenters for these sessions such as Rey Hennen with the Lake Region Narcotics Task Force, Angie Johnson who is the Farm and Ranch Safety Coordinator with NDSU Extension, Preston Sundeen with Vasichek Insurance, Kim Miller with North Dakota Telephone Company, Sara Laite and Samantha Sear with NDSU Extension, Lori Stevenson and Kim Homan at the Lake Region District Health Unit, Steve Heilman and Randi Anfinson with Lake Region Search and Rescue, and Bryan Lang and Ben Myrum from the Ramsey County Sherriff’s Department.

Every student left the event with a take-home bag of items related to the topic presented. This take-home bag would not have been possible without the support of our community sponsors including CHS, Ihry Insurance Agency, Sager Crop Insurance, SmileQuest, Tronson Grain, Altru Clinic Lake Region, First Community Credit Union, High Plains Equipment, Lake Region Anglers, Leading Edge Equipment, North County Seed, Nutrient Ag Solutions, and Sanford Health Lake Region.

When students were asked what they are going to do to be safer after attending the event their responses included the following; “wear a helmet, stay away from drugs and vaping, lock all doors and windows when I’m home alone, and I will now be more careful around tractors now that I know about the PTO which can easily kill you.”

Progressive Agriculture Safety Day was a great event where students learned ways to be safer and healthier!

lindsay.overmyer@ndsu.edu

www.ag.ndsu.edu/ramseycountyextension

www.facebook.com/NDSUExtRamsey