UPDATE — Hull, Iowa — We recently told you about a grant being given by Farm Credit Services to Western Christian High School in Hull in support of their young agriculture department’s greenhouse project.
We recently had a chance to talk to Kylie Miller, the agriculture teacher at Western, and she told us about the agriculture program there.
She says unbeknownst to her at the time, the right time was when she applied for the $8000 grant.
She says that while it’s young, the Western Christian ag department is going strong, and just like everything else at Western, they approach it from a Christian perspective.
Miller says there are between 60 and 70 students taking classes in the agriculture department and about the same number in their FFA chapter.
She says they hope to involve Western supporters in building the greenhouse, which they hope to build on the north side of the high school in Hull.
——————————————-
Original story, posted Friday, August 25th at 3:17 p.m.:
Hull, Iowa — Western Christian High School has received an $8,000 grant for a greenhouse project.
Schoool officials say the grant is provided through Farm Credit Services of America’s “Working Here Fund”.
They tell us that the Western Christian agriculture program will be adding a greenhouse to the program soon with the assistance of funds from the grant. We are told that the agriculture program began two years ago and continues to grow each year. With the addition of the greenhouse, teachers say students will have more opportunities for hands-on learning experiences. They say that the addition of the greenhouse will allow instructors to enhance the lessons and skills taught to the students in the classroom and in the greenhouse.
Western Christian agriculture instructor and FFA advisor Kylie Miller says that while the classroom aspect of the program focuses heavily on hands-on activities, she says she believes that adding the greenhouse to the program will only enhance those skills and provide students with greater opportunity to apply real-life agriculture experiences.
After the greenhouse is completed, students will be responsible for its maintenance. School leaders tell us that Western Christian will incorporate the greenhouse into the learning objectives of as many classes as possible to maximize the learning opportunity for students.
Angela Vaughan, vice president of retail operations at Farm Credit Service’s (also known as FCSAmerica) Sheldon office says that they know first-hand the value of agriculture education and are proud to partner with Western Christian High School to ensure future generations have the same opportunities for learning.
