“Cold, Naked, Hungry. Life without farmers.”

Dakota Snyder, Moniteau High School senior and FFA member, quoted the words printed on the chapter’s hoodies.

The group’s members are serious about agriculture and displayed that enthusiasm Monday when members drove tractors to school. The sound of 15 different types of tractors revving their engines is hard to ignore.

“It happens all across the state,” said Bryan Dean, the school’s agricultural education instructor and FFA adviser.

Dean said the students organize the event.

“They’re very serious about it. They’re proud of FFA and they’re proud of their farms,” he said.

“It’s all about promotion of agriculture,” Dean said. “I hope people take it in a positive light for what it is.”

The tractors are part of the school’s FFA picnic day when school staff and guests join the chapter for a lunch cookout.

Brianna Powell, a freshman, went as the guest of Cory Powell, her older brother.

To avoid buses, Cory Powell prepared well in advance of the 7 a.m. tractor arrival deadline.

“I washed it and made sure I didn’t run out of gas,” Powell said.

Then he set off on the shiny John Deere 1026R.

The tractor works well for landscaping and other smaller projects, but it’s not designed for speed.

It took about 90 minutes for the long drive from his starting point near the Venango County line. Rather than leaving from home at 5:30 a.m. Monday, he left Sunday, drove partway and stayed overnight with friends closer to school.

For the FFA chapter, Powell serves as the sentinel to maintain order and protocol for meetings. He has an interest and experience in landscaping, but after graduation he plans to study heavy equipment operation first at the New Castle School of Trades.

Other students tractored in from North Washington, West Sunbury, Hooker and Harrisville, using back roads as much as possible.

When asked how fast someone would drive a tractor to school, Chandler Lawhead said, “Fast as it will go.”

The students’ tractors typically can reach 15 to 20 mph.

Brock King, a senior and FFA vice president, drove a six-year-old Case IH to school. After graduation, King will continue working on his family’s farm raising beef and dairy cattle and grain. He also will attend Lincoln Welding School.

Austin Stoops, a senior and FFA treasurer, showed up on a John Deere 4020 that his family has had since before he was born.

“It shows a part of agriculture. It’s our day to show what we do,” Stoops said.

His family raises beef cattle, hay and grain. After graduation Stoops will head to Williamsport to attend the Pennsylvania College of Technology, an affiliate of Penn State specializing in applied technology education. He will study heavy equipment operation.

Ross Martin, a sixth-grade teacher at Dassa McKinney Elementary School who came as a guest, showed his support for the FFA celebration by hauling his pulling tractor to the school on a trailer.

Three generations of his family have competed in tractor pulls in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia. With this experience, he explained the tractor’s high-tech features to the students.

“It’s a motor sport for the farming community,” Martin said.

A very small competition vehicle also was on display Monday. Powell helped build it.

Powell was a member of one of the Moniteau FFA teams that competed at the 2015 Agricultural Education Demonstration speeches during the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January.

Out of more than 30 teams from across the state, all four of Moniteau’s teams placed in the top 10 and ranked fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth.

Dean said having the tractors at school is a way to showcase agriculture, even though there’s more to agriculture than tractors and cows.

“It’s the number one industry in the state,” Dean said. “One out of seven jobs are somehow related to agriculture.”

When students drive their tractors to school, he said it reminds people about where their food comes from.

“It’s kind of nice to do things like this,” he said.