O'Mara meets with area high school students, conservation leaders at the Capitol

Albany, N.Y., March 2—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) met this week with a group of area high school students representing the Greater Southern Tier BOCES (GST BOCES) Career and Technical Education program, who visited Albany with local conservation leaders to help promote their priority issues for 2016 and showcase local agricultural products as part of this week’s legislative advocacy days at the Capitol sponsored by the New York Association of Conservation Districts (NYACD) and the New York Farm Bureau.

The students are also members of their local Future Farmers of America (FFA) Future Conservationist Chapter.

“I appreciated this impressive group of high school students from our region taking the time to come to Albany to help showcase the quality of locally grown foods and products, and to help all of us better understand the many critical issues facing agriculture and conservation across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and statewide,” said O’Mara, chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.  “It’s especially encouraging to have these young leaders looking to carry on and guide this important and valuable work for the next generation.”

GST BOCES was also represented by Don MacNaughton, a Conservation instructor in the Career and Technical Education Department.  Steuben County Legislator Dan Farrand, who’s currently serving as President of the NYACD, also accompanied the group.

The photo above was taken at the rostrum in the historic New York State Senate Chamber.  From left to right are: NYACD President Dan Farrand; Kyle Frasier, an Odessa-Montour junior studying Conservation at GST BOCES; Nathan Washburn, a senior at Elmira High School studying Conservation at GST BOCES; Miranda Stansfield, a Horseheads High School senior studying Conservation at GST BOCES; Senator O’Mara; Ashley Materne, a Horseheads High School senior studying Animal Science at GST BOCES; Emily Zine, a junior at Horseheads High School studying Animal Science at GST BOCES; and Dakota Landon, a Watkins Glen High School senior studying Animal Science at GST BOCES.