Every community has a claim to fame that makes it proud.
The school district in New Holstein, Wisconsin chose to weave the fabric of its farming community
directly into the classroom
in an effort to best prepare students for life in the area after graduation.
When I first arrived I sat down with Joe who rules the roost in the AG department.
The program was started in 1942
so it's a fairly older program
and so there's been a lot of -
we're a very agricultural area kind of a rural area
so there's a lot of support for the program.
There are nine different courses in a variety of
animal science courses and plant science courses
as well as a wildlife Natural Resource course,
a food science course.
We do different industry tours to show the different areas.
We've gone to mink farm and we have a hydroponic tomato and cucumber farm.
We have a lot of different things going on out here in the greenhouse
and we've started a lot of vegetables from seed and we've got some strawberries and stuff
we started from seed as well.
We have a couple of avocado trees that we started from the pits
green onions
and we do have a few dwarf banana trees here as well.
We have done some hydroponics and aeroponics and stuff in the past as well with the school
lunch program.
We've done some lettuce and other herbs and stuff that they'll use in their foods.
A great experience I've had here would be with a greenhouse.
Transplanting the plants and even planting with seeds seeing them grow and
it's a great opportunity to kind of get a taste of look there's outside of like
your normal core academics.
It's a lot different and more hands-on than the normal classes you'd have.
I plan on going to school to be a vet.
I wasn't really sure if that's what I wanted to do or for my be an AG teacher and now it's
I want to be a vet.
We're currently in the animal lab area right now
behind you we have four different pens.
We just have four laying chickens right now laying hens in here.
And usually I have my middle schoolers in the morning come out here and collect the eggs.
We have just some tilapia right now and we will eventually filet them as part of a food
science lab.
We house our small animals in here as well.
In class the students everyday are responsible for cleaning them,
taking care of them feeding watering and every week they rotate
so they have different experiences.
The lessons these students explore in class let them experience life in the agriculture
field firsthand.
They truly have an opportunity to dig in and get their hands dirty.
I would say this program is very beneficial to the kind of kid who
doesn't want to sit in an English class all day or a math class all day.
We both kind of grew up on farms
so it just kind of felt like home.
I mean he treats us like we're his own kids really.
I'm in large animal science.
It teaches you how to give injections like in the veins and muscle under the skin.
In Turf and Land we made stuff like chairs.
Someone made like a kitchen island.
We took motorcycle tires and made them into like planters that hang from a tree -
using recycled materials the reuse for anything, really.
The classroom portion is one part of the program and then the FFA is another portion.
It's kind of like at their second family
that we do a lot together they spend a lot of time together.
Your knowledge that you learn these classes,
you can carry on to an FFA event and you can use it and
compete against other chapters throughout the state.
That FFA piece really is the meat and fabric of the AG program.
One of the things I strive to look at for all my students is
giving them an opportunity to test drive a future profession.
The AG program allows us to do that because we have a lot of employers
that are looking to hire our kids.
And the school to work program allows kids to get school release time
as a junior and senior
to get credit and they're working in the field,
they're taking concurrent coursework in the AG classroom.
And so it's a win-win.
Our students getting experience to try on or test-drive a job
but our local employers our local farmers get workers and in doing so
our kids get a rich experience our employers to what they need
but then some thing magical happen -
is we get a kid like Derrick Steffes who's one our alumni.
He just went on bought his own herd not that long ago.
And to me that's I think the big delivery
is for people look at a program say is that successful we get kids who go from
an experience here to real life.
AG in general has been my life from the day I was born
and I couldn't say anything else in my life.
I think I took every single AG class that they offered here.
It made you better leader - that really helps with everything I
do day in and day out.
Daily life I wake up, I'm milk cows, feed all the cows
do whatever has to be done maintenance wise
throughout the day.
Day to day stuff with how you have to manage the herd
how you gotta take care of breeding and
in business of paying your bills and the day-to-day thing that you have to be good at
otherwise you're not going to succeed.
More often that we sit in a classroom and the kids get a theoretical experience
and they have to try to make it relevant to their life today.
AG allows that to happen naturally and organically
and then the reward for us as they go into the industry.
We know we look back and say we've done our job.
Those are the really good success stories for us.
Probably my favorite part
is seeing how the kids
take ownership of their learning and have their experiences.
And I think that's a testament again to the work ethic and the culture
of the families that live around here
and what we've built here at the school.
One of the things I really like to try and push to the students
that there's more to farming than just cows and tractors
that there's the green house and landscaping aspect of it
or small animal care
you know growing your own food
buying local.
AG is a great opportunity I think there's tons of careers out there for AG.
Drink more milk!
There's really something for everyone in agriculture.
Just do it we will not regret it.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of On the Road.
As you can see an agriculture program fits best in New Holstein.
But what makes your community unique?
And how can those characteristics shine through to shape education?
Questions like these are a great place to start.