Agriculture coming into focus at Butler Intermediate
BUTLER TWP — Agricultural education is taking off in Butler Area School District.
Not only do two elementary schools, Summit and Center Township, have greenhouses where students learn about gardening, but Butler Intermediate High and Butler Senior High schools are also building greenhouses for student learning.
One of the latest additions to the plant focus at the district is an agriculture lab at Butler Intermediate, which houses two fish tanks, a hydroponic garden and plenty of space for projects.
Administrators at the school said the room has so far been mainly used as a gathering space, in addition to it housing the fish and garden, but anyone is welcome to use it for different purposes.
Dave Andrews, instructional coach for student engagement in the district, said the lab was built with grant funding totaling about $65,000, because interest in agriculture has taken off with students throughout the schools.
“They've been introduced to it, and they love it. They want it, so it provides another resource for them to be able to partake in that,” Andrews said of agricultural education. “The senior high now has an Intro to Ag class which has almost 100 students this year in it ... They're writing up an Ag II course for next year because so many kids are interested in it.”
On Dec. 17, students from a nearby makerspace classroom stopped into the agriculture lab to feed the fish — one tank filled with hybrid striped bass and another filled with rainbow trout. The bass are new to the district, but other schools have been raising trout for years. Students took turns pouring scoops of food into the tanks before watching as the fish swarmed to the food.
Stephen Dobransky, principal of the intermediate high, said because the school is populated by students from seven elementary schools, the agricultural lab will be an introductory area to some of them. It is also equipped to build upon the education students received in agriculture at Summit and Center Township elementary schools.
“The goal is to bridge the programs here with the ones in the elementary schools,” Dobransky said. “We wanted it to be a large group room and collect everything into one space.”
The ag lab was finished at Butler Intermediate shortly after this school year began, according to Dobransky.
Jennifer Yeager, science department chairwoman at Butler Intermediate High School, said grant money for the ag lab came from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and a U.S. Department of Education’s Stronger Connections grant. Dobransky said students in the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School built the room’s cabinets, which helped save some construction costs.
Yeager pointed out the classroom was designed to be a collaborative space, so the tables and chairs are easy to move.
“You can see them moving the tables around, all the options for seating,” Yeager said.
Andrews the lab was built in the school’s former metal shop. The classroom sits near the exit of the building where the greenhouse was recently constructed, giving easy access between the two agriculture locations. The greenhouse still needs to have utilities installed, but Andrews said the school will begin using it as soon as possible.
“The greenhouse kids can step out there and then come right in here and use the lab right here,” Andrews said.
With fishing programs already prevalent in Butler Area School District, Andrews said the implementation of the hybrid striped bass into the intermediate high school could also lead to more programming around fish. The intermediate has a fly fishing club, which Dobransky said may get more involved with the work in the ag lab and Andrews said students may learn to use them in cooking classes.
“We're actually trying to look at potentially using them for a farm to table program,” Andrews said. “So literally raise them and use them for a protein source for food.”
Dobransky said there are currently no classes specifically meant to be based in the ag lab, but Andrews said teachers have already used it for other lessons.
“I've seen different curriculums in here. We've had math in here, social studies in here. They use the space,” Andrews said. “It's been used by everybody it's great.”
