It shouldn’t be a surprise to know how much is going on at the Newberry County Career Center in Agriculture! Slowly walking into spring with timid grace both teachers are planning educational and enriching activities in and out of school.
Nick Morris made our program proud by competing in Mr. FFA in Pendleton. He represented both himself and his Supervised Agricultural Experience in tractor restoration. This is an ongoing project where Mr. Morris, along with other students, restored older model tractors and kept up with budgeting and record keeping. I think any entrepreneur understands the importance of these skills.
The Equipment Operations class is currently restoring a N8 Ford tractor to its classic condition. Students have been enthusiastic about this learning opportunity. They are extremely active in the process with hands on experience ranging from breaking the tractor down, learning/repairing parts, and painting the tractor to its’ original glory. This class is also building our new aquaponic models for future classes to learn about some of the new explorations in agriculture and resource allocation.
Students are also getting the opportunity to monitor game, install nature trails, and hatch chickens in class. From Zoology to horticulture, agriculture is all encompassing in this program.
I believe we all have mixed feelings about the Forest Gump rain we can’t seem to get away from. Our little garden has suffered as well. While we were able to install four raised beds for herbs and experimental plots, the rest of the field is slowly being tended to by students. Much of the garden has been started in our green houses, and boy the variety! A huge thank you to Newberry recycling for the mulch donation as well. I can’t wait to see what we get to harvest for the Newberry Farmers Market.
Who has already started planting their plethora of annuals and perennials? I won’t lie, I got a bit over zealous this year. It doesn’t help that Mrs. Havird and her horticulture students did such a great job growing ferns and so many other beautiful flowers that are perfect to spice up any lawn or porch container. Come take a look from 10-4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Please contact our agricultural advisors Holly Havird at hhavird@newberry.k12.sc.us or Lisa Stone at lstone@newberry.k12.sc.us if you have any questions or donations.