By Aniyah Smith and Janay Bussell-Laraviere
On Friday December 6 and Saturday December 7, 2024 the Gary Comer FFA Chapter hosted the Galesburg High School’s FFA chapter as part of the FFA Chapter Exchange Program. The FFA Chapter Exchange Program is sponsored by ADM, a human and animal nutrition company, to help foster community and build engagement between FFA chapters from across the state of Illinois. This program has helped students see the many different sides of agriculture throughout the state and the opportunities available to students who are interested in pursuing a career in agriculture. We are so thankful to ADM for this opportunity and for the Galesburg FFA members who visited us in Chicago.
The Galesburg High School FFA members came to the Gary Comer Youth Center to tour our urban Comer Youth Farm and Rooftop garden and learn about what agriculture looks like in a big city. Along the way, we were able to get to know the members and show them around Chicago. We started off by playing get-to-know-you games with the rest of our chapter members and the agricultural staff. The game was Rock, Paper, Scissors, then the loser follows the winner to cheer them on, leading up to a final one on one battle. This game was a lot of fun and the contest got very heated. We also played a game where we got to see how many things our members had in common with the Galesburg students. The more we were able to really get out of our comfort zones, the more we really interacted with the members from Galesburg and got to know them better. After spending some time with our guests indoors, we did some fun activities with them in Downtown Chicago.
We took the Chicago Metra train, all the way downtown with Galesburg so they got to see our beautiful city and we took a walk to where we were going out to eat at Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza, and of course the food was great. We had the best conversations about school, life, their town and what's there is to do in Galesburg. We also learned that some of their members are very good chess players. We planned out when we can come and visit their town and hopefully see some of their community events. After we ate, we went to go see the sights at Millennium Park. The first place to stop by was the Bean, then we went to see all the Christmas lights and we took pictures with the city skyline. We did a little shopping as well, and although it was freezing that day, we still had a good time with the Galesburg students.
On the second day of the exchange, we all went to visit the Shedd Aquarium. We were able to explore different animals and their habitats, and learned about how to protect our waterways. It was interesting to learn that Galesburg is not far from the Mississippi River and that there are concerns about keeping the river clean just like we are worried about our drinking water in Lake Michigan. We were able to visit one tank that let us pet different starfish and we learned that they are at risk due to climate change, same with the dolphins in the dolphin show. It was very nice to hang out with the Galesburg students and continue to get to know them. At the end, we took a great group picture, which was a great way to wrap up the exchange.
At first, we were a little nervous to meet with new people, but after we got to meet with the Galesburg members at the Build Conference in November and then they came to visit us, it turns out that they were actually really cool. It was very interesting to learn about how other FFA members view Chicago since we have so many things to do. It helped us appreciate what we have. Here in Chicago, we have all these different things to do that smaller towns in Illinois don’t. But it was cool to hear about how they have a community parade that they get to be in and that they have animals like horses and goats at their homes. We can’t wait to come see their school in the spring when we can see some of the baby animals and ride in a tractor. Many of our members have not seen what traditional agriculture looks like, so it will be cool to experience.
We want to say thank you to ADM for their support of the FFA Chapter Exchange program. Without their help, exchanges like this would not be possible. This visit helped to bring together the different styles of agriculture, letting us show what we can grow in the city and all the different opportunities we have.
