Greenland Agriculture Program Popular With Students

Greenland students (left to right) McKenzie Fanning, junior, Ashley Warren, Senior, and Allie Overdorf, senior, take a look at some of the equipment in the wood shop area in the newly renovated building at Greenland High School Thursday morning. The new vo-ag program will give students more options for their electives at Greenland High School.
Greenland students (left to right) McKenzie Fanning, junior, Ashley Warren, Senior, and Allie Overdorf, senior, take a look at some of the equipment in the wood shop area in the newly renovated building at Greenland High School Thursday morning. The new vo-ag program will give students more options for their electives at Greenland High School.

GREENLAND — A new career education program at Greenland High School is so popular with students that nearly half the student body enrolled in classes.

Planning for a vocational agriculture program started more than year ago when the district decided to convert a building used for wood shop classes, hired Ryan Siebenmorgan as the teacher and announced the program to students and the community.

Students in the Environmental and Spatial Technology program worked with an architect to design the renovation of the concrete-block building across from Dee Lee Gymnasium.

Other school districts in Washington County, including Fayetteville and Springdale, have vocational-agriculture programs. Several years ago Greenland residents began asking the district to initate a program.

At A Glance

Agriculture Science and Technology is one of seven career programs offered through the Arkansas Department of Career Education, which oversees career and technical education in secondary schools. Other programs are:

• Apprenticeship and applied sciences

• Arts, audio and video technology and communications

• Business and marketing technology

• Curriculum and career development

• Family and consumer sciences

• Skilled and technical sciences

• Science, technology, engineering, mathematics,

Source: http://ace.arkansas.gov/cte/programAreas

“It’s a neat thing that kids in Greenland now have the same opportunity as kids in other schools,” said Johnny Gunsaulis, Washington County Cooperative Extension Service for agriculture. “It fits the area well and it’s a wonderful thing the school district sees the value of agriculture in that area.”

Ashley Warren, 17, said the only down side is the program wasn’t offered before she became a senior.

“I love anything agriculture. I love anything animals. I want to learn as much as I can about animals,” Warren said. “I hope to understand horses and livestock better.”

Warren hopes to own a farm someday and is enrolled in four classes. She wanted to take six courses but needed to finish requirements for graduation.

“I love everything about these classes. They are so hands on,” Warren said.

Her classmate in the third-period animal science class, McKenzie Fanning, 16 and a junior, said his passion for agriculture came from his grandfather.

“I raise cows and I want to learn more about livestock,” he said. Fanning said he bought his first cow when he was about 13 years old and has four mamas and two calves.

“My grandpa raises cattle and he gave me the land to put them on,” he said of his own herd.

Allie Overdorf, 16, is a transplanted New Yorker who wants to learn more about animals.

“I didn’t know much,” she said. She moved in Arkansas in the ninth grade. Her favorite television show is “Little House on the Prairie.” She said she is inspired when the young actors go out in the mornings to collect eggs.

“I wanted that kind of life,” she said, laughing.

Siebenmorgan said 125 students, nearly half of the 260 students in the high school, are enrolled in the seven courses he teaches.

Siebenmorgan said this is his first experience building a program. It’s also his first year as a teacher.

“I’m about as green as they come,” he said before school started.

“Being in a smaller school fits me like a glove,” Siebenmorgan said. He grew up on a small beef farm and involved with a lot of gardening. He described the experience as, “If it’s broken you fix it yourself.”

As a career education program, a student can follow three paths: agriculture mechanics that includes welding; animal systems; and plant systems that includes greenhouse and turf grass management, nursery and landscaping.

The students were unsure of their plans. Warren hopes to go to college and pursue her interest in animals. Overdorf said her desire now is to become a teacher.

Fanning said he hasn’t wanted to pursue post-secondary education but may be changing his mind after being around his new teacher.

Fanning has learned about the jobs available in agriculture and he plans to pursue one of those.

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