Whether on the farm, in school or somewhere in between, these 35 campers are learning “safety” is all about making the right decision at the right time. For over 50 years, students in grades seven through twelve have attended Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation’s Safety Camp to make their homes, schools, and lives safer.
“There’s all kind of safety things that we need to make sure that we’re checking off the list just to make sure that we’re dotting all our I’s and crossing all our T’s and making ourselves as safe as possible when we work in a dangerous sector,” said Matt Hammons, MFBF South Mississippi Safety Specialist.
That list is packed into this three day camp with experiences designed to keep safety front of mind after campers head home, back to working on the farm, and into classes at their schools next fall.
“We talk about ATV safety, which most of these children have access to on a daily basis. We talk about shop and machinery safety, tractor safety as well,” said Hammons. “We’ve learned stuff like snake ID, snake safety, fire safety, electrical safety. It is about teaching you the safety aspects of agriculture, but there’s a lot more in detail information that we offer when it comes to just maybe every day, like electrical safety.”
The key for MFBF Safety Specialists is making each lesson interactive and most importantly fun. For 7th grader Luke Connor, he won’t forget this important lesson from the impaired vision demonstration.
“I hit ten people on the course. Well, they were cones, but we act like they were people. So, I’ve gotten sentenced to like a hundred years of jail, which basically life. So, no drinking and driving,” said Connor.
Still, he sees the importance in the exercise.
“If you don’t know the safety practices, if you ever get into these situations, you don’t know what to do so probably panic and you might get hurt,” said Connor.
Tenth grader Hunter Mixon from Clarke County enjoys the shop class and metal working offered at his school, but also knows he must keep safety first.
“It can be pretty dangerous like with sharp pieces of metal and just a whole range of things. So, like when you’re welding, you need to have the proper safety gear, like welding hood you know, gloves and everything,” said Mixon.
But, this is still summer camp, and summer camps are meant for fun.
“It’s just I like the way they make being safe fun because we do all kind of activities. Like we have all the games out there and everything, so they make it a really fun thing,” said Mixon.
“I’ve made a few friends. I always play pool in there with my friends and ping pong is really fun,” said Connor