FFA Members Find SAE Experience with Local Business
By Amy Wimer
Todd Valley Farms is located right outside Mead, NE and offers a
lot to the community. Two Mead FFA students worked at Todd Valley
this past summer. They learned many things about turf grass, such
as, management, sales, and maintenance. The two students were
Freshman, Jenna Schutt, and Junior, Amy Wimer. Summer employees
have to arrive around 8 a.m. and work until 4:30 or 5. Todd Valley
is very good about letting the employees take off work for sports
and other school activities. Jenna and Amy were both in softball,
basketball, and volleyball that takes time out of their jobs for
camps. Jenna Schutt stated that whenever she needed off for
something Todd Valley would let her off.
The two girls and other employees worked in the propagation room
where they pieced the stolons apart, made trays, and planted new
trays of buffalo grass. Some hot summer days they would work a lot
in the greenhouses repairing the trays, weeding, cutting stolons,
fertilizing, and watering. They would also have to use a table
mower and mow the trays in the greenhouses so the grass wouldn’t
get to tall. When working on Mondays, they would begin their
morning shipping trays of grass. We would go to the shipping room
and make boxes, mow the trays, cut the stolons, and box up the
trays and ship them. Both girls said they loved working at Todd
Valley and Jenna Schutt is planning to go back next summer.
