SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Agriculture in urban areas is nothing new, but what about taking agriculture to elementary and high school students in these urban areas?

That’s the goal of Ohio state Sen. Chris Widener (R-Springfield), who wants to match up elementary and high school students with Ohio’s largest industry through a proposed regional STEM school, one that would focus on agriculture in these urban areas.

Widener wants to see the Global Impact STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy create an educated work force for business employed in the food, fuel and fiber industries.

“The concept is to go into urban environments and begin to study energy, environment, bioscience and food science,” he said. “We’ll give this school that name and it deliberately leaves out the word ‘agriculture’ because so many people are not familiar with the many facets of the industry, and many fear it doesn’t offer much of a career for students. Kids and parents struggle with agriculture as a term, and if they are not familiar with it they believe it’s a dead-end to a job.”

Widener represents the 10th Senate District, which includes Madison, Clark and Greene counties. He is also chair of the state Senate Finance Committee. He hopes to have the project begin in a few years in Springfield, where the school district has agreed to donate a vacant building. That building is the former South High School, which was vacated in 2008.

“The reality is that one in seven Ohio jobs is in the agriculture bioscience industry, making it the state’s largest industry,” Widener said. “Only 10 percent of those jobs are on the farms. Many of the jobs are in high-tech areas that rely on science, math and technology.

“Demand for agriculture-related positions is expected to grow with the world population, which is projected to increase from seven billion to nine billion in 2050.”

According to Widener, having this type of education based in Springfield may even attract new businesses on top of existing food companies like Reiter Dairy, Woeber Mustard and Young’s Jersey Dairy. “That’s the ultimate end game,” he added. “Not only filling those jobs that are open, but creating new ones.”

The Global Impact STEM Academy would be structured after the Dayton regional STEM school, which is partnered with Wright State University. The goal is to have industry partners give students real-world experience and college credit, and in return they would get students who are more prepared for the workplace.

“The idea is to go into urban environments and begin to study energy, environment, bioscience and food science,” Widener said. “It would be project-based learning that the industry is working on – like, how do you get that fifth bean to grow in that soybean pod?”

Widener said the agriculture-specific STEM schools need to be located in urban or other areas that have not had much exposure to agriculture. Doing so, he said, would expose more students and families to the industry and not take away from traditional agriculture experiences such as FFA or 4-H.

“The number of students and teachers in traditional vocational agriculture programs has been decreasing by 5 percent every five years,” Widener said. “The Global Impact STEM Academy will throw a lifeline to traditional vo-ag.”

The school would reach out to students starting in the sixth grade because research shows that’s when students start showing a real interest in school subjects, Widener said.

“When many people think of agriculture, they think of farming and see it as a field with few prospects, but only about 10 percent of jobs are in crops and livestock,” Widener said. “There’s all these promising jobs out there that don’t involve the production, that don’t involve working on the farms, but they’re in the labs.”

Widener, along with Springfield City School District Superintendent David Estrop, has been meeting with legislators, parents, students and industry leaders to try to draw support for the creation of the academy, which would serve 51 school districts in Clark and surrounding counties.

They also need to find a university with which to partner, similar to the way the Dayton STEM school works with Wright State University.

According to Widener, the hope is to have partnerships finalized by April, spend the 2012-13 school year planning and open the doors in the fall of 2013. Ohio Farm Bureau has a hand in this venture, as well as The Ohio State University. Several higher education institutions have expressed interest as well, including Clark State Community College, Wittenberg University and Central State University.

“We’re excited about the STEM school idea,” said Gretchen Krafft, president of the Springfield Preservation Alliance. “We think it would fit Springfield well because Springfield is where A.B. Graham founded 4-H.”