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The Muster- Mel Young: Agriculture As A School Subject · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I hate that you with a sad face come up
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to my place. Welcome back to the muster. Mel Young
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: teaches at Southland Girls High School. She's involved in teaching
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: agriculture down there. Now, of course, it is International Rural
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Women's Day, so I thought no better time than to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: catch up with Mel and talk about the work that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: is going on down there at Girls High and especially
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: regarding young farmers, some staggering figures around people wanting to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: be involved in the Young Farmers Club. Good afternoon, Mel.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Andy, for taking this opportunity to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: talk to me.
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  Speaker 1: Teaching agriculture in a female's school, you don't really see
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a lot of this in New Zealand at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: I know, but it definitely should be a lot more,
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  Speaker 2: to be fair. There's so many girls getting into ag,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: they want to see pathways, and we need to have
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  Speaker 2: that opportunity for these girls so that they can see
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: where pathways they can grow into and make a difference
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: in the world because, you know, there's just so many
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: jobs in the ag industry and we just don't have enough.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: people to be in those jobs so we need these
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  Speaker 2: girls and this is their thing so they live and
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: breathe farming so they are doing the thing that they
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: love and they're enjoying it so it's just making it
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  Speaker 2: fun engaging and hands-on for these girls.
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  Speaker 1: Did the students drive the need or the need for
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: agriculture in the curriculum?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah well originally the numbers were a little lower because
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  Speaker 2: they weren't as popular so when we took over when
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I took over the program about eight years ago I'd
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  Speaker 2: asked the girls what they wanted and tailored the whole
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: curriculum and content to them. So teaching the curriculum, but
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: teaching subjects that they were, or topics that they might
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: like to do. And then the way to get these
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: girls interested more so is getting their hands dirty and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: getting out on the farm. So that's been a huge
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  Speaker 2: impact and something I've had a major focus on in
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  Speaker 2: the last few years. So last year was probably one
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  Speaker 2: of our pinnacles of the number of field trips. So
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: we We would usually go on a handful, but now
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: we're going on a huge number, and it's all because
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: of the community, you know, supporting Girls High. We've worked
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  Speaker 2: with MPI as well, and they've put us in touch
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  Speaker 2: with a lot of industries that are willing to help out,
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  Speaker 2: and then people that are quite close in proximity to
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  Speaker 2: Southland Girls, if possible, but definitely the hands-on practical experience.
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  Speaker 2: Like I say, these girls love to get their hands dirty.
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  Speaker 2: They They love doing things and they learn so much better.
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  Speaker 2: So the more I can incorporate that, the more the
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  Speaker 2: numbers grow because then the girls see that, hey, this
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  Speaker 2: looks pretty fun and that's something I want to do.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a bonus. So our girls are going on
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  Speaker 2: to a lot of different future pathways like cadetship, growing
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  Speaker 2: future farmers, Telford, Lincoln, Massey, et cetera. There's just the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: world's your oyster and that's these girls realise that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's a pathway for them and ag is pretty awesome.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: What do you see as the main driver behind the
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  Speaker 1: students wanting to be involved with farming as such?
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of them from our community are
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  Speaker 2: coming off-farm. So we've got the hostel and that's full
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  Speaker 2: as well. And so the majority of the girls coming
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  Speaker 2: in are like they are on the farm helping their
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  Speaker 2: families out, you know, working on their neighbour's farm during
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: summer work, etc., And it's just what they do. They
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: know all about it. They enjoy it. They like being outside.
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  Speaker 2: And so they're coming into our school wanting to do
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  Speaker 2: something that they know really well. And so then they
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  Speaker 2: see academic excellence for themselves because they're writing down what
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: they've been doing on the farm. And then they can
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  Speaker 2: share their knowledge with others. But definitely feeding in through
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: the Southland community. with our high number of girls coming
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  Speaker 2: in into the hostel, but also a lot of townies,
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  Speaker 2: like in our Young Farmers Club, yeah, a big chunk
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  Speaker 2: of hostel girls, but then, you know, we've got 120 members,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: and there's a big chunk of townies that also would
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  Speaker 2: like to be on the farm or connect with the
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  Speaker 2: ag industry, so that's what we're seeing, and that's why
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  Speaker 2: it's grown so much, and I think the kids are talking,
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  Speaker 2: they see the videos, they see the photos, they see
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  Speaker 2: what we're up to, and that's just what they think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it just makes them excited. So then we
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  Speaker 2: get excited because we want to, you know, we try
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  Speaker 2: to outdo each year, I suppose, and make it better. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: like even this morning, we just reached out. I reached
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  Speaker 2: out to some industries to come in and chat to us.
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  Speaker 2: We had our own Young Farmers event last night, which
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  Speaker 2: was absolutely magic. So, yeah, thank you. Yeah.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Just describe exactly what you're doing around agriculture as a subject.
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  Speaker 2: So this year we've been fortunate putting in a junior
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  Speaker 2: ag program. So Girls High has always been senior ag.
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  Speaker 2: This year coming, like next year in 2027, we're offering
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: year nine and a separate year 10 ag course, which
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: we've never done in the past. And we are so
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  Speaker 2: excited about that. I've got a second ag teacher to
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  Speaker 2: teach that, who also helps run the young farmers, you know,
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  Speaker 2: club and so we're catering to those girls so a
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  Speaker 2: lot of girls will come into girls high from into
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  Speaker 2: year nine from country schools and so we're meeting their
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  Speaker 2: needs we're also meeting the needs of and the majority
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  Speaker 2: of our young farmers club are year seven or ten
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  Speaker 2: so we're aiming for those girls also our year 11s
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  Speaker 2: can choose senior ag so they can take year 12
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  Speaker 2: ag even in year 11 and so that's huge for
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  Speaker 2: these guys they don't have to wait to do a
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  Speaker 2: subject that they're passionate about so I think it's really
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  Speaker 2: cool for Southland girls, and I feel that we're leading
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  Speaker 2: the way in ag, young farmers, and teaching the subject
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: 120 members in the Young Farmers Club. There's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of clubs in the South, and I think a lot
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  Speaker 1: of them would struggle to have half those figures.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, and I think it's all to do with people talking,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: kids talking to each other and saying how good it is.
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  Speaker 2: And also with the club, it's like you don't have
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  Speaker 2: to come to... So we probably meet nearly every single
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: week for the year. But I'll just put in an
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  Speaker 2: email to the girls saying, this is who's coming to
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  Speaker 2: talk to us, or these are the activities we're going
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  Speaker 2: to do. And if you're interested, you come along. You
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  Speaker 2: don't have to come if it's not for you. If
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  Speaker 2: there's any kind of competitions, we'll get the full probably 120.
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  Speaker 2: We're actually struggling at school to find a space big
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  Speaker 2: enough to hold this many people, especially when we do
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: hands-on activities. with different industries and things like that. So
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: we've had Fonterra doing cream and we're whipping the cream
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: on pikelets and their cream that they send to China
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  Speaker 2: is quite different to the cream that we sell here.
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  Speaker 2: That was probably one of the highlights and then we've
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  Speaker 2: had other ex-students coming in and talking to girls and
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  Speaker 2: running big team competitions. They love team competitions shown by
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  Speaker 2: last night at the end of our Young Farmers event
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  Speaker 2: we ran a team challenge so my two Young Farmers
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  Speaker 2: captains Katie and Emma, they ran like a sack race,
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  Speaker 2: egg and spoon, and then they had a bridle that
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  Speaker 2: the girls had to put together as fast as possible,
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  Speaker 2: and they're super competitive, and they love that kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 2: So it was a great way to finish the night.
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  Speaker 1: I suggest if you're looking for a bigger piece of
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  Speaker 1: real estate to hold your meetings and to do these events,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: there's a certain rugby park right beside you guys that
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  Speaker 1: is pretty much redundant for eight months of the year. Exactly.
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  Speaker 2: We could go there, eh? The girls saw the country
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  Speaker 2: calendar at Building High School where they had two farms.
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  Speaker 2: So they thought the backfield would look really cool as
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: like a farm. I didn't think the PE department would
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  Speaker 2: be too happy about that. But I mean, if we
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  Speaker 2: had a farm, we're in a city in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of town. We don't have farms on our back doorstep,
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  Speaker 2: but honestly, that would be a dream if we had
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  Speaker 2: a farm that we could get out on all the time.
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  Speaker 2: That would be great. But I'm trying to create that,
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  Speaker 2: but we have to obviously travel. But like we're always
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  Speaker 2: looking for more people we can work with, more industries.
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  Speaker 2: The more, the better, because... We've only just started and
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  Speaker 2: we've just got this great momentum and the girls, what
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  Speaker 2: they want and we'll try and cater to their needs
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  Speaker 2: and try and get them out of the class and
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  Speaker 2: get their hands dirty as much as possible. And that's
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the plan for the year 9-10 course for next year too.
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  Speaker 1: Mel, thanks for your time this afternoon. We're going to
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: follow up quite frequently to see how things are going.
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  Speaker 1: Great to see the passion for the agricultural space occurring
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  Speaker 1: at Southland Girls High School. Thanks for your time. Enjoy
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  Speaker 1: the rest of your lunch break and good luck in
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the classroom this afternoon.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I'll be great. Thank you so much for taking the
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  Speaker 2: time to talk. I really appreciate it. But honestly, it's
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  Speaker 2: a team effort and everyone has helped me out throughout
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the years with the ag and that's the reason why
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  Speaker 2: it's so successful because we've got grandparents, parents. you know,
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  Speaker 2: aunties and uncles, amazing industry, willing to give up their time,
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  Speaker 2: just shown by last night as just a small tip
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: of the iceberg. So I'm hoping other schools can really
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  Speaker 2: pick up on what we're doing. I'm more than happy
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  Speaker 2: to work with them and try and get their ag
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  Speaker 2: programs or young farmers, you know, into the next level
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  Speaker 2: to help their students as well. So, yeah, watch this
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  Speaker 2: space for our inter-school next year.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Mel. Thanks for your time. Awesome.
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  Speaker 2: See you. Bye.
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  Speaker 1: Mal Young of Southland Girls High School. 120 members of
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  Speaker 1: the Young Farmers Club. It's pretty impressive. So young farmers
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  Speaker 1: starting at grassroots for sure. Jacob Duffy's up next. Black
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  Speaker 1: Caps Bowler. You're listening to The Muster.