At a glance
“We have students from all over Western New York and from as far away as the other side of Syracuse here. This is not a typical kind of open house. Most of the activities are interactive so they got to experience soldering, driving excavators, wiring electrical circuits, and judging dairy cows. There were forty activities and almost every department on campus was involved.”
Phil Schroeder
Chair of the Agriculture and Veterinary Technology Department
Over 700 students experienced the diversity of academic programs offered at Alfred State during the Veterinary, Agricultural, and Skilled Trades (VAST) career discovery event. The event was organized by the college’s Agriculture and Veterinary department and was hosted on the college farm.
Event organizer and chair of the Agriculture and Veterinary Technology Department Phil Schroeder was excited about the success of the event. “We have students from all over Western New York and from as far away as the other side of Syracuse here. This is not a typical kind of open house. Most of the activities are interactive so they got to experience soldering, driving excavators, wiring electrical circuits, and judging dairy cows. There were forty activities and almost every department on campus was involved.”
Students from thirty-three school districts had the opportunity to explore forty different hands-on events staged around the farm. Activities ranged from trivia contests to educational experiences to encounters with the animals on the farm. ASC faculty members and students introduced and let participants try for themselves skills including but not limited to flying a drone, learning how to give a calf a physical, competing in a skid steer obstacle course, and horse grooming.
Each of the three schools on campus, the School of Arts and Sciences, the School Architecture, Management, and Engineering Technology and the School of Applied Technology were all represented.
“We started this new format last year and had 400 students and it was so popular we are over 700 now. They are having a positive experience and having fun while exploring what Alfred State has to offer.”
Schroeder and the agriculture and veterinary technology students kept the excitement going the following day as they hosted the program’s annual Kiddie Ag Day. Alfred State students led local first and second graders on tours of the farm. Over 500 students from area school districts participated in the event.