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FSPE: Nebraska Network 21 4/13/2000
This is the transcript from the National Farm Broadcast Service (NFBS) entitled, "New Approach to Ag Education"
New Approach to Ag Education Educators throughout rural America are looking for ways to open their students' eyes to future job opportunities in agriculture in their home communities. School administrators and teachers in Mead, Nebraska; think they've found a way to make a difference in the way they prepare students for these new innovative ag careers.
Come fall, high school students in Mead will participate in Nebraska's first Agricultural Sciences Magnet School through a new agricultural curriculum developed by teachers from Mead Public School and specialists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Nebraska Department of Education.
The program will require all freshmen to take an ag literacy course, which is just one of 14 ag-related courses that will be added to the school's curriculum beginning with the 2000-2001 school year.
Mead Public School teachers are developing the curriculum as part of the Nebraska Network 21 program, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food Systems Professions Education (FSPE) Initiative grantee. Sophomores will choose between an agricultural business or entrepreneurship course, and upper classmen will have the option of specializing in areas of agricultural technology, plant science, food science or agribusiness.
University of Nebraska's Agricultural Research and Development Center Director Dan Duncan tells how the University and Mead Public Schools came upon this idea to start a magnet school…tape
DUNCAN: "We started discussing in general terms what we could do together in regard to the Kellogg initiative. Through our working relationship with Mead school, things evolved and at one point in time we started discussing further involvement ¾ and perhaps looking at an agricultural sciences curriculum, possibly even a magnet school. As we talked about it, everyone got excited and thus the magnet school was born."The program is patterned after the successful Chicago Agricultural Sciences Magnet School, but is unique in its rural setting and proximity to resources at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center (ARDC).
Duncan says the curriculum is designed to be very rigorous and focused in nature…tape
DUNCAN: "That's going to allow students that go through the curriculum ¾ a kind of a foot up in college. One of our aims in Nebraska is to keep more of our children/students, retain them in Nebraska after they graduate. I think that they will be able to see a lot of opportunities in the fields that they maybe didn't think were related to agriculture, but are, and maybe see a little more opportunity to stay in Nebraska ¾ work for companies or start up their own businesses."
Mead Public Schools Agriculture Consultant, Joe Baldassare, says the program provides students with a different approach to learning about agriculture…tape
BALDASSARE: "We are having an opportunity to give them more curriculum, more materials that are specific to their career interest, and something that is exciting because this is the first time something like this is being accomplished in a small school environment."
Mead Public Schools Secondary Principal Angela Leifeld says students have the opportunity to find out early on whether or not they have an interest in pursuing a career in agriculture…tape
LEIFELD: "A lot of times kids get to college and they don't have a clue as to what they want to do with their lives. And we're hoping that if we give them a broader spectrum as to what agriculture is, by giving them an agricultural literacy class and the careers that are available to them, then they will be able to make better choices."Mead High School Sophomore Brad Schutt says that there are a lot more opportunities in agriculture than people realize…tape
SCHUTT: "A lot of people just leave Nebraska, or at least their local area, to go find jobs in other states or places that are more technical. Agriculture can be very technical and I don't think that they realize that ¾ and they just don't see what opportunities that we have here. And, I think our curriculum can really help them see that."
Mead High School Junior Amy Rasmussen says she is very interested in the new curriculum…tape
RASMUSSEN: "I think it will be really beneficial to our school. And I'm interested in a couple of the career pathways that our school is looking at going for my future ¾ like college majors and eventually my career. Hopefully this curriculum will help me decide what I want to do when I get out of college."
Finally, Duncan says that the Kellogg Foundation has really given them the freedom to experiment…tape
DUNCAN: "When we first started out with this biotechnology curriculum, we didn't know exactly where we were going. They funded a grant that we actually ended up changing the emphasis on to explore the possibilities of magnet school. Then they provided seed money to help with the curriculum writing and teacher education and some of the travel to other magnet schools that needed to occur for this to really get a good start."
The program eventually could become a magnet for surrounding school districts and for students statewide via the Internet, or through visits to the ARDC.
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