PADUCAH, Ky. — Just because more high school students aren’t raised on a farm these days doesn’t mean they don’t have the opportunity to learn about agriculture. Lone Oak High School’s FFA chapter is finding ways to allow members and ag education students to learn about raising food in the middle of a city school.

Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Kirby O’Donoghue, who comes from a farming background, said the students at Lone Oak are especially excited when they get to work with animals or in the greenhouse because it is something they normally don’t get to do.

“It’s awesome to be a teacher with students who get really excited to come to your class every day,” she said.

O’Donoghue really values project-based learning, and that is something agriculture education allows. The students enjoy working in the school greenhouse where they grow flowers for the community to purchase.

During a brainstorming session at an ag teachers’ conference last summer, O’Donoghue said the idea of growing vegetables came up. With the help of other teachers, administrators and students at her school, it came to life by growing fruits and vegetables hydroponically in the greenhouse, for the school cafeteria.

With the help of a $5,000 gift from Lowe’s, the ag department has been able to do the things necessary to make this project a reality.

“This is something that is innovative, works for our program and it’s agriculture hands-on. This isn’t exactly your typical family farm, but it connects our students in the school with the food they are enjoying and it is a fresh, healthy option,” O’Donoghue said.

Another challenge for a city FFA chapter is how a student’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) is handled. 

In a rural area, she said the projects are more typical of a farming background but in an urban area, a little imagination goes a long way.

“One of our SAE visits was to the local pharmacy. One of our students wants to go into agri-pharmaceuticals,” she explained. “We have a small amount of space and a large number of students, but the kids are super-creative. They’re the ones that find an interest in agriculture.”

One of O’Donoghue’s students wants to be an ag engineer, so he works for the local road department during the summer to gain experience to help him go into creating buildings and combines. This type of initiative to good to see, she said, because these students realize they need experiences now to help them in the future.

She also teaches an Agriculture Issues class, in which students focus on forming educated opinions about agriculture and becoming advocates.

“One of the things we look at is the significance of a career in agriculture,” she said. “Every single student in that class, whether they will major in agriculture at the end of their high school experience, it’s my hope they are pushed to a better appreciation of the industry and understand why farmers do what they do, how significant they are and how the food supply relies on farmers.”

O’Donoghue is in her first year of teaching but because of her background in agriculture, brings a broad knowledge to her students and FFA. That includes a sense of the community in which they live. O’Donoghue said some of the food they will grow in the greenhouse is set to go to a local food bank. She also said her students are creating their own individual service plans.

“We tell our leaders in the organization, ‘you are not just an individual any more, you represent something that is greater than yourself, People in the community will look to you whether you are wearing your FFA jacket or not,’” O’Donoghue said.

Lone Oak FFA officers are working on a project that involves Heifer International, an organization that helps other countries end hunger and poverty through gifts of livestock and training to make those areas more sustainable.