Brad Frazier, an LSU College of Agriculture freshman from St. Rose, scoops a small alligator out of a holding tank at the LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Station.
Frazier, along with Matthew Cheramie of Luling, Deanne Lemartiniere, also of St. Rose, and Jenna Mangold and Jackson Young, both of Destrehan were among freshmen in the LSU College of Agriculture visiting the LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Research Station on Feb. 26 with a group of students who are part of the Agriculture Residence College.
A highlight of the visit was holding the alligators. The students live in Blake Hall on the LSU campus and take agriculture classes together.
The residence college program is a living-learning community for first-year students in the LSU College of Agriculture. They take classes that are dedicated to agriculture awareness and issues like assistant professor Kristin Stair’s AGRI 2001 Special Topics in Agriculture class.
“We want them to be Ag literate,” Stair said. “That is really important for us in the College of Agriculture, that we’re sending these students out into their majors with a wider understanding of what agriculture is.”
A benefit of the program is living in a residence hall with students who have similar interests.
Throughout their year in the program, students tour different agricultural facilities like the LSU AgCenter Botanical Gardens at Burden and the Aquaculture Research Station. Students are assigned to a track based on their major and participate in monthly track days.
Many of the events are designed to help expose the students to different agricultural research and potential careers, and they get to have interesting hands-on experiences like holding alligators.
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