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| Raylene Sandoval and Leo Payan from Ramona Elementary School in Montclair examine a sprouting pumpkin seed during a recent visit to AGRIscapes. |
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| President Bob Suzuki learns about the life cycle of a pumpkin and various types of squash and melons as he watches a video with students from Ramona Elementary School during a visit to AGRIscapes. |
For nearly 150 visiting first graders from Ramona School in Montclair, a mid-morning visit to AGRIscapes at Cal Poly Pomona on Friday, Oct. 18, proved to be more than just a typical field trip. It actually provided a trip to a field filled with pumpkins as well as a chance to learn more about the versatile favorite fall fruit.
Broken into groups, the students rotated through three different stations where they learned interesting pumpkin particulars. One stop in the AGRIscapes visitor center theater featured the short video Pumpkin Circle, narrated by actor Danny Glover, which showed the life cycle of a pumpkin patch. After visiting all the stations, the visitors then were lead to a nearby field where each student was able to select and take home a pumpkin.
In all, over a thousand local schoolchildren took part during the five days of scheduled visits, which served as an educational component to this year?s 10th annual Pumpkin Festival.
University president Bob Suzuki stopped by on Friday to watch and listen alongside the Ramona School students.
?This is a wonderful opportunity to have so many young people visit here,? said President Suzuki. ?To be able to see and touch and learn first-hand is exciting for them and just exciting for us.?
For additional information on AGRIscapes programs, check out the AGRIscapes Web page or contact program director Anna Sariol at (909) 869-6722.
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| Natalie and Hailey Rehfeld take a break on a mound of pumpkins at the 10th annual Pumpkin Festival. More than a thousand local schoolchildren visited AGRIscapes to learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin in the days leading up to the festival. |