New Castle High School is one of those schools that works hard when it comes to updating the current curriculum. Ever since COVID, it’s been difficult for many schools to recoup and change their fundamentals. Challenges existed, but NCHS pressed through, and from that came many teachers and (less) students who actually know how to use E-mail. These advances include extra curriculum; classes that are taken during school hours but give more than just a credit. NCHS has many of these courses, the Career Center is full of them: Art, welding, computer science, or even dental. Regardless of the career center, there are plenty of incredible courses that don’t have those extra benefits, including Agriculture! Who am I kidding, you’ve read the title, Agriculture is getting a huge upgrade thanks to our school buying a new plot of land.
To start off, a while back Dr. Shoemaker, our district superintendent, bought the land off of the First Christian Church. (The one right next to the school) More specifically the forest behind it, or for reference, the forest right next to the tennis courts and the basketball hall of fame. The land was around 7 acres, however, one of the people in charge of the land, Diana Bowman, stated we would only be using a fraction of the property and let the church stay. The school plans to lightly excavate some parts of the forest so that they may construct a large greenhouse.
In addition, where the greenhouse is located is also where the new advanced agricultural course will be held. This course will be directed by three incredible teachers: Diana Bowman, Noah Brown, and Harley Walls. All of these teachers teach combinations of science and agriculture. With their direction, the greenhouse will turn out amazing and be an incredible pathway for students to learn more about agriculture.
Now, any student would wonder, “How will there be a class where we basically leave school grounds in just 45 minutes?” The answer is quite simple, they won’t. More accurately, Bowman states that the course will be held in its own time, just like the career center. Classes will last longer than the 45 minute class restriction meaning students will be able to get a much more interactive and hands on experience.
Livestock will also be raised within this new course. Many forms of chicken, fish, and cattle will be used to teach students how to properly care for the well-being of animals. Keeping an animal healthy is an imperative necessity to be able to sell or eat the animal. No one wants salmonella (Hopefully) and teaching students to profit off their own incredible abilities to raise animals is undoubtedly important.
More similarities with the Career Center include the ability to obtain certificates and specialized training. The entirety of this course will be part of an incredibly helpful career path that can take any aspiring students into many agriculture-based fields of well-paying employment after they graduate from high school or college.
Now, obviously some may think, “Farming is stupid blah blah blah” and not only does that tell me you’re very close-minded, but you also don’t really know what agriculture is. Agriculture includes so many more fields of work including: Biochemistry, biometrician, aquaculturist, animal physiologist, and many more. If the ocean or forms of chemistry sound like an interesting career path, then getting agricultural education could truly help for reaching goals.
Agriculture is a very important career path that humans rely on more than technology. Without it, we would be derived from thousands of forms of foods, meaning we would simply kinda die a little bit. Personally, dying is cringe, so I believe it would be best, if anyone has even a little interest in agriculture, to try it out. It may just become your new future.
