AgEd
Pulaski County High School's Agriculture Education Program
Pulaski County High School is 24 years old and had its' first class graduate in 1975. The former high school now serves as the middle school. The Principal of Pulaski High School is Paul E. Hale. The high school has a Vocational School with an Agricultural Educational program that consist of three option area: Agriculture Production, Horticulture and Natural Resources. Two specialized classes are offered in small engine repair and agriculture machinery Mike Cox is head of the department and agriculture production teacher. Elissa Steeves is the horticulture teacher, and Karl Polson is natural resources teacher. Cox and Steeves work as the FFA advisors.
The programs are teacher driven and the administration is very receptive to program needs if properly justified by the teachers. In the last three years approximately $100,000.00 has been spent on the shops and horticulture. This money has been available through Perkins money and grants. Mike Cox, head of the department feel the program is very well supported by school funds and the community. He feels their limitations are time constraints, rather than funds. If they can dream it they can do it----if they can just find that "time stretcher".
The Horticulture Program is a self-supporting program that must bring in $25,000 a year to operate. The horticulture department runs a floral shop, within the school, which takes orders and delivers flowers within the school. The horticulture department has a fall sale of Mums, a Christmas sale of poinsettias, and a spring sale of bedding plants to raise money. Ms. Steeves buys supplies and started plants/plugs for Giles County, Blacksburg Middle and High School and Christiansburg Middle and High School in order to receive bulk discounts on horticulture materials. She also supplies some plants to the Virginia Tech Horticulture Club during their spring sale.
Student needs: The Ag Ed department feels a community need could be filled by implementing a welding course. They also would like to build and animal lab to fill student needs. The Director of Vocational Technology for the Vocational School, Elaine Woolwine, has a vision of developing a magnet school that focuses on Agriscience. This school is envisioned as bring hi tech to the class room and building a partnership with business and industry that will dove-tail the training of the students to the needs of the community.
More details about Pulaski County High School's Agriculture Education Program
Pulaski County High School is the only high school in Pulaski County and draws its students from the whole county. There are approximately 1500 students at the high school. The majority of the students are from a rural background. The Agriculture Education department of the high school consist of three teachers, K. Polson, M. Cox and E. Steeves. The program offer three options, Natural Resources, Agriculture Production and Horticulture The program offers four introductory courses: Agriculture I and II for 9th and 10th graders, Horticulture III and Natural Resources III. Horticulture IV, Natural Resources IV and Agriculture III are offered at the junior level. Seniors can take Horticulture V, Natural Resources V and Agriculture V. They offer two specialized classes in small engines and agricultural machinery.
Pulaski's SAE Program is handled by Mr. Cox, head of the department, who teaches Agriculture Production. He starts the 9th and 10th graders off with an SAE that coincides with their introductory classes. At the beginning of the year Mr. Cox spends about two weeks with his freshmen Agriculture I class on a unit call SAE. He explains the importance of SAE and teaches the freshmen students how to keep accurate records. He goes over the SAE record book page by page during this unit. He also helps students with ideas for SAEs, and helps them get started on their SAEs during this unit. The SAE projects vary widely from home projects like mowing the lawn, growing strawberries or raising animals to placement with local businesses or Entrepreneurship SAEs. SAE projects are required of each freshman student. During the year Mr. Cox encourages the students to keep their record books up to date. The second year of SAE Mr. Cox gets 80 to 90% of the first year students back. The sophomore year, during the first few weeks of Agriculture II Mr. Cox reviews the record keeping procedures and helps the students get their record books up to date from over the summer. He tries to visit each student and check on their SAE progress at least once during the year.
Option areas:
The Option areas at Pulaski County High School are Natural Resources, Horticulture and Agriculture Production. The program has four introduction courses: Agriculture I and II for ninth and tenth graders. Horticulture III and Natural Resources III are also offered at the tenth grade level. Agricultural Production is taught on a level III and IV to juniors and seniors by Mr. Cox. There are horticulture classes IV and V for juniors and seniors that cover landscape design and material beyond the basics supplied in Hort. I and II. Natural resources was three classes, but has collapsed into one class due to low enrollment. There is a opportunity here to develop the natural resources curriculum. They also offer two specialized options in small engine and agricultural machinery.
K- 12 Program:
No K-12 Agriculture Education program is in operation in the Pulaski school system now. An opportunity to develop this aspect of the system and increase agriculture literacy exist.
Facilities:
The school has a well equipped shop area, two greenhouses, a horticulture class room, agriculture classroom, an aquaculture room, offices for each teacher, and an office for the teacher's assistant, which is shared with the FFA Officers.