Indiana Students Get Their Hands Dirty Learning About Ag

Farm Week Introduces Kids to Ag-Related Career Pathways

Indiana Agriculture & Technology School hosted its first ever Farm Week on its 600-acre farm campus in Morgantown the week of April 28^th. Fifty-nine students enrolled at the tuition-free, online charter school attended the week-long, hands-on classes.

 

 

“The students loved getting their hands dirty and really learning about ag up close and personal,” says Keith Marsh, the school’s Executive Director and Chief Academic Officer. “It was a busy week of learning, but the kids also found time to have fun – getting to know one another better. Real friendships were formed.”

In addition to their online learning, students spent the week exploring different ag-related career pathways like forestry, wetland ecology, drone aviation, veterinary medicine, and invasive species. Career specialists from Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources, Monrovia Vet Clinic, Co-Alliance, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and Purdue Extension of Marion and Morgan Counties were on hand to lend their expertise.

“Our school’s mission is to introduce students to different careers in agriculture and technology,” Marsh explains. “What better way to learn than from the very people who work these jobs every day. It’s one thing to learn from a book. It’s another thing entirely to get hands-on experience.”

 

 

Students stayed at the Indiana FFA Leadership Center in nearby Trafalgar where they were able to fish, shoot archery, and challenge themselves to ropes courses in the evenings. They also packed over 10,800 meals for Kids Against Hunger, a humanitarian food-aid organization committed to fighting food insecurity in the United States and worldwide.