Liberty High School is excited to announce that next fall the Agriculture pathway will return to Liberty High School. Liberty HIgh School offered Ag when the school initially opened in 1999, but sadly had to close the program with budget cuts. As Liberty looks to build CTE pathway offerings for students, Agriculture, especially in the area we serve, seems like an obvious priority.
Without an Ag offering at Liberty, students who were interested either looked to transfer to a school with the offering, participated in outside organizations, or waited until they were juniors to join Ag through ROC. Liberty senior McKenna Hill says, “Agriculture is an amazing program for our students and community. I got to participate in AG through livestock management at ROC and I am so excited to see it back at Liberty. Ag taught me communication skills, job interview practice, how to properly care for livestock, and how to help others. I have received support not only from fellow students in Ag but also from the community. I cannot wait to see the change it brings to Liberty.”
The Ag teaching position will fly in March. Whoever is hired to this position will be instrumental in rolling out the vision for Liberty Ag, but the plan for next year will be to offer three freshman sections of Natural Food and Resources, two sophomore sections of Ag Biology, and one section of Ag Communications for juniors, and space permitting, interested seniors.
Principal Leandrea Slayton is excited about the community an ag program offers for students and the leadership and life skills students develop. She says, “I recently was in administration at two schools with Ag programs. I fell in love with the opportunities I saw provided for students from speaking, to caring and showing their animals, and most importantly the collective efficacy in knowing together they can accomplish anything. I want that same opportunity for Liberty students.”