When Whiteland High School agriculture teacher Hannah Goeb started at the school five years ago, 60 students were studying agriculture.
The number of students enrolled in the offerings has grown to 150, and attendance in the school’s agriculture classes is expected to double to more than 300 during the next school year, requiring a second teacher starting this fall, Goeb said.
One of those students is Alec White, a senior who started taking first period agriculture classes while attending Center Grove High School. White heard about the program at Whiteland and convinced Center Grove to allow him travel back and forth and take the class, he said.
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“My family owns a farm, I want to do that for my career,” White said. “I wanted to get more information, that’s why I joined agribusiness. I started taking classes here first period; intro to agriculture. This year I (transferred) here full time. There (are) more chances to take agriculture classes; animal agriculture class and agribusiness. I’m a reporter for FFA. It helps me understand what’s going on. It helps me understand how it works.”
White plans to study agribusiness and agronomy at Purdue University.
Adding a dual credit option to the school’s agriculture program three years ago has been one of the reasons for the dramatic increase in students attending agricultural classes at Whiteland, Goeb said.
Five years ago, the school had three agriculture classes: agribusiness, food science and animal science. Since then, it added intro to agriculture for its freshman and advanced animal science for its upperclassmen. In the fall, the school will have 12 classes covering those five subjects, she said.
In March, the Department of Education recognized Whiteland Community High School as the best agriculture science and business program in the state.
The growth of interest in agriculture at Whiteland is not only due to the dual credit option, which has elective credits that can be applied to most colleges and universities, but also the hands-on aspect of the program. Goeb said.
In the agriculture classes, students can work in the greenhouse, learn to train dogs, calculate how to keep land costs low and profits high and sell vegetables. All the students are also involved in the school’s FFA program, meaning they can compete with other schools in conventions and conferences involving agricultural knowledge, she said.
“Working with the greenhouse is one of my favorite things,” sophomore Sam Trout said. “It’s different from a regular class. It’s more hands on. We’re doing something different, planting flowers.”
Michaela Alexander will be joining Whiteland in the fall as the second agriculture teacher in order to split classes in the growing program. It will be her first venture into teaching but not her first into farm-related activities. She grew up on a farm in Bloomington.
“I grew up on a farm and still live on a farm,” Alexander said. “I raise dairy cattle. I was an active 4-H member. My sister and I have shown dairy cattle on a county, national, state and international level. That’s how I got into the agriculture industry and what fueled my passion.”
