On April 19th Mrs West held a fair as a fundraiser for future field trips for her classes. The fair had classic events such as carnival games, face painting, and balloon art. The fair also had concessions including cotton candy, snow cones, and other goodies.

Mrs West stated, “I was going to do a mock county fair with my CCA kids for our agriculture unit. We were just going to use stuffed animals and pictures of food.” However, when she presented this idea to her class, Cadet Josiah Escobedo proposed that they could have a real one. 

Fifty-four of Mrs West’s students were required to participate in the fair for a grade. While Mrs West did originally hold the fair to mimic a real fair for her class to learn about agriculture all UMA cadets were welcome to attend. 

Mrs West put a lot of dedication and effort into the fair. Mrs West’s process of planning this year’s fair dates back to the beginning of the school year. She first asked Mr. Smith for permission to hold the fair. She then set a date for the fair months in advance so that she could be sure to have the date she wanted. She then assigned her students to their tasks for the fair. “They could help set up, take down, bring a pet, bake something to sell, make something to sell, etc., ” said Mrs West.

While cadets contributed their part to the fair, Mrs West was working to fill the fair with fun activities for attendees. She asked Major Curtis if they could borrow his carnival games and popcorn maker. She then rented the carnival and inflatable obstacle course online and bought the cotton candy machine, snow cone machine, and supplies for the fair. When she met a balloon artist at Texas Roadhouse, she hired him for the fair. She then reached out to the parents of her CCA Students for their support.

The cadets enjoyed the activities that were provided. Cadet Jaxon Carrier said his favorite thing was ”face painting. It was amazing.”  Others found the overall experience interesting. Cadet Zaydon Cox who said the thing he most enjoyed about the fair was “having a chance to socialize with people I wouldn’t normally have the chance to socialize with.”

Not only did Mrs West include her CCA class in the fai,r but she held a competition in her digital literacy class to see who could design the best flier to help promote the fair. The winner of the competition was Kallie Rounds. Mrs West then printed the fliers, posted them around the school, and printed some for Good Foundations Academy across the street. 

When Mrs West asked her students if they would want to participate in the fair again, she said, ”It was a big ‘Yes’ from everyone!”  When these cadets were asked what they would add on if they were to participate again, cadets such as Cesar Deleon suggested rock climbing.

Mrs. West summed up the philosopy behind creating such a big event. “I’ve been able to accomplish a lot of really cool things in my life because I wasn’t afraid  to ask for things. My philosophy is that if you ask, you’ll get a yes or a no. If you don’t ask, it will always be a no. Don’t be afraid to ask for someone or something. I wanted a fair, I asked for a fair, I got a fair!”