Hayes Center High's Ag Academy thriving

Success this first year will only create more success in following years, said school superintendent Kate Repass. "It's started slowly," Repass said, a week or so after school started this fall. "But we knew it would. And we have at least one student in each of the 16-18 classes we're offering."

The school district's low student-teacher ratio will only enhance the appeal and success of the program, Repass said.

Word about the new curriculum will spread quickly among students, Repass is sure.

Hayes Center's new "Ag Academy" is unlike any other ag program offered in any other American high school, Repass said, because a student who completes the three-year 64-credit-hour program will earn high school and college credit simultaneously and graduate from high school with a high school diploma and a college associate's degree in diversified agriculture. "No other high school anywhere has a dual credit ag program like this," Repass said.

The program has been a year and a half in the making, and started with the community's and county's desire to be able to offer job and career opportunities to Hayes Center High School graduates and to be able to lure HCHS graduates back with employment opportunities after college.

Hayes Center businessman and 2007-08 school board president Kevin Large told a group of interested patrons in February 2008 that while the Hayes Center school does a good job of educating its students, the same education prepares them ultimately to leave. Large said the county has crop and livestock production, feedlots, water, range land. "We have everything but people" he said.

Large and other Ag Academy supporters believe the program will create opportunities for young adults to start their own ag-related businesses and/or purchase farms and ranches, and to live, work and raise families in Hayes Center and Hayes County.

Hayes Center school officials expanded upon the school's existing ag program by adding dual-credit classes offered through the Mid-Plains Community College Area and the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture in Curtis. The Ag Academy's agriculture classes are taught by Hayes Center ag instructors Lisa Kemp and Katy Snyder, and -- using "Blackboard" online learning technology -- by MPCC and NCTA instructors.

The expanded ag program is not limited to only students living in the Hayes Center school district. Students from outside the school district -- even international students -- are encouraged to examine the opportunities available through the dual-credit program.

Some individual classes are available through distance-learning arrangements with other school districts, Repass said, but to take advantage of the entire ag program, a student must attend class in Hayes Center. For high school students attending from outside the district, housing can be arranged.

Scholarships are available to help pay college expenses.

Hayes Center Ag Academy students will get a break on the cost of college classes, Repass said. An associate's degree in diversified ag completed in a traditional manner after high school graduation would cost about $16,400 -- which includes charges for 45 credit hours at NCTA and 19 credit hours at MPCC, books, fees and room-and-board for four semesters.

Students signing up for the same classes through the Ag Academy at HCHS pay about $3,700; students living at home eliminate room-and-board.

NCTA classes are available in Hayes Center's classrooms using a "Blackboard" technology that replaces traditional classroom interaction with courses that take place online. Lisa Kemp, who teaches Hayes Center's animal science and shop classes, said students get their lectures and assignments online. She and Snyder are available in the classroom to answer students' questions and expand on online lessons.

If a student misses class or when school is called off because of the weather, students can stay current with NCTA classes by using home computers, Kemp said.

Kemp is impressed with students' acceptance of computer technology in general and with online learning opportunities. "They jump on this so eagerly," she said. This generation of students has been exposed to technology all their lives, she said. "It's just the way they all think," she said, "They catch on quickly to learning online. They're all so computer savvy -- it's second-nature to them."

Kemp is also pleased that the new technology addresses the nation's need to "go green," as online classes use less paper than traditional classrooms.

All but one of instructor Katy Snyder's classes are dual-credit courses. Snyder said that she and Kemp are not required to have additional certificates to facilitate the college classes.

Snyder said she and Kemp will work closely with NCTA instructors; she plans to take Hayes Center students to Curtis for labs in the veterinary technology classrooms. NCTA's agronomy instructor will come to Hayes Center to administer some lab tests, she said.

Snyder is convinced students are mature enough to handle high school and college requirements at the same time. Repass said Hayes Center has offered college speech, algebra and psychology classes for many years.

Snyder said the college ag classes offered to Hayes Center students are entry-level classes, and enhance and expand upon what a good high school ag program like Hayes Center's should be providing. "Our kids get lucky," Snyder said, "They also get credit for college."

Kemp said Hayes Center students are being offered "the best of both worlds" of high school and college. "They'll get almost one-on-one attention, help in the classroom, and college credit," she said.

Ag Academy courses

Hayes Center's and NCTA's partnership developed this "Ag Academy" program for juniors and seniors:

Core Curriculum:

Communications: College composition, advanced college composition, speech.

Natural sciences and math: General biology, general chemistry, trigonometry, elements of statistics, college algebra.

Humanities and social sciences: Psychology.

Major courses (for which students earn high school and college credit):

Accounting I, microeconomics, farm and ranch management, entrepreneurship.

Crop science, principles of soils, natural resource management.

Nutrition, large animal disease, animal management, livestock anatomy and physiology.

Plant propagation, horticulture science.

Sophomores are eligible for the Ag Academy program also, if they are at least 16 years old.

For more information on Hayes Center High School's new "Ag Academy," contact Superintendent Kate Repass at (308) 286-5600.