WHS Students Train Turkeys for a Presidential Visit - KSTP 5 Eyewitness News

They are part of the presidential flock, hoping to get a presidential pardon next month.

The idea is to get them prepared for large crowds and lots of noise so they don't get scared once at the White House.
 

To help do that, four Willmar high school students are training the birds, trying to acclimate them to life outside a turkey barn.

The students spend an hour a day with the birds, they play music, talk, clap, pet them and try to put them on a table.
 

Only two of the 30 birds will make the trek to Washington D.C.  "We'll be looking for birds that are calm, can be picked up easily, they're not going to get real nervous or flap their wings, when they get picked up and put on the table, they'll be fine there and very photogenic," says Steve Olson of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
 

Once pardoned, the birds will be moved to a farm in Mt. Vernon for the rest of their lives.