Over the course of two days next week, more than 800 Grade 3 students will delve into the unique Pizza Perfect event at Grand River Raceway. The local youngsters will spend the field trip in a hands-on agricultural education program themed after the favoured pie.

The eighth annual event happens on March 25 and 26 in the race paddock at Grand River Raceway. The students are bused in from 20 local schools across four school boards in the Waterloo-Wellington area.

More than 7,000 local students have benefitted from this program since its inception at the Elora racetrack in 2006.

Pizza Perfect is a one-day program designed specifically for Grade 3 students. The event is themed after pizza, which typically represents all four food groups identified by Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating. The agriculture-awareness program involves a comprehensive study of related agriculture, nutrition, food processing, economics, mathematics, science, arts and language, and agricultural careers.

Pizza Perfect explores these subject areas with complete interactivity. Hands-on activities and live demonstrations include milking a cow, cheese making and transplanting seedlings.

Hosted by the Grand River Agricultural Society (owner/operator of Grand River Raceway), Pizza Perfect is made possible with the help of more than 85 volunteers and representatives from over 30 agricultural producer’s groups, associations and suppliers.

• An educational video about the Pizza Perfect program, produced by Grand River Raceway, can be seen below:

• To view a photo gallery of the 2013 event, click here.

(Grand River Raceway)