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Farm work: 101
The high school senior is planning for a career as a livestock veterinarian. She said she's aware that 9-month-old Bobby Joe will likely end up as someone's dinner. "You know it happens, but you still do it," said Jazmine about raising animals in the agriculture program at Adolfo Camarillo High School. "That's what I enjoy; it's fun." Educators have taught the art and science of farming and raising livestock to students at Camarillo High since 1959. Classes include animal and plant physiology, vocational agriculture mechanics, and landscape and floral design.
Agriculture is the country's largest exporter and employer, providing jobs to 22 million people in work that ranges from production in the field to sales in the grocery store, according to the Future Farmers of America, a national agriculture leadership organization. Locally, agriculture is a billion-dollar industry. Ventura County ranks 11th in the state in terms of production, said Bruce Richey, who has taught farming and animal science at Camarillo High since 1979. He and Sam Swanson, who began teaching at the school 14 years ago, instruct more than 300 students a year. Richey said the benefits of the program are twofold: students are exposed to something new, and they're learning a skill that could land them a job, even a career, after high school. "Most students don't come with the skills they did 15, 20 years ago," Richey said. "The work ethic . . . is tremendously important (for students to learn)." Farming continues to attract new fans. Richey said some of his former students have themselves become high school agriculture teachers. Richey and Swanson have the usual teaching credentials but also a specialized credential to teach agriculture. The additional document allows the teachers to apply each year for a $10,000 state grant they use to buy equipment, supplies and other learning materials. They have also clocked at least 3,000 hours of work in the industry. Of the four high schools in Ventura County that offer agriculture classes, Camarillo High is the only one where students learn on school property. The four-plus acres at the campus' west end are home to two classrooms, fields for growing crops, pasture grounds for grazing animals and a large building for the five tractors and other farm equipment. Since January, several ewes have given birth to nine lambs, and last month trucks delivered three steers to the school. In April, students, Richey, Swanson and some parents will travel to breeders inside and outside the county to select baby pigs, goats and lambs for the students to raise in school pens and sell at the fair. Life on the farm On a recent Friday morning, chickens pecked the ground near a group of students waiting to take a tractor for a spin around a small course Swanson set up with red cones. "What we learn over here is really interesting," said 15yearold Jasmine Gomez as she waited for her turn on the tractor. Camarillo High students often compete against other schools in tractor-driving contests. Before climbing aboard, students watch a video and are tested on tractor safety. "It's a good confidence builder for the kids," Swanson said. Meanwhile, Richey showed a classroom full of students how to craft a two-flower corsage. Bryan Medlen, 18, fumbled as he tried to hold the flower stems at the proper angle and wrap them with a ribbon. Earlier in the year, the high school senior arranged flowers in a vase, which he gave to his mother. She was delighted. Medlen said he may use the skills he's learned in class to make a corsage for "a hot date." |
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