Living a predominately rural area youth are exposed to a variety of conditions in which a person is faced with unsafe conditions around the home or outside in the yard or farm. A majority of youth are not prepared on what to in emergency or how to avoid an accident. The safety day taught youth to be aware of their surroundings and what to do in an emergency. Teaching youth proper safety on the farm or around the home is essential to their development. A safety day was held for sixth-grade youth in Mercer County. 

Over 253 youth participated in ten different booths: electric safety, lawn equipment, fire safety, railroad safety, firearm safety, vaping, home safety, ATV safety, kitchen safety, and what to do in an emergency. The program was co-sponsored by Extension Service, Mercer County Health Department, Cattleman's, Mercer County Farm Bureau, and local FFA chapter. As the co-contact for the program, I coordinated the school schedules, assisted in securing the speakers, and taught ATV safety. During this session, I discussed ATV accidents and fatalities statistics, proper gear to wear when riding ATV’s, and general driver safety. Many of the youth are exposed to ATV’s at home or at a friend’s house. Over 90% of the youth stated they had rode and ATV, and 74% state they had ridden with a passenger and no safety gear. I utilized an ATV video, illustrating how easily they can flip and injury can occur. At the conclusion of the day, each student was required to do an illustration on an assigned booth with a short essay on what they learned at that booth. As an instructor, I was amazed at how much the youth learned at each booth and noted specific details. The teachers found the illustration/essay to be a good tool in determining if the students learned proper safety at the Safety Day.