On Aug. 25 about 30 high school freshmen in Bertie County took advantage of a unique opportunity to earn a high school diploma and train for their chosen career in agriculture.
Their training, at the new School of Agri-Science Studies at the Early College High School, was of a depth rarely afforded to high school students. In agriculture-oriented Bertie County, the project fills a real need.
“The agriculturalists of the baby boom generation are retiring with no one to replace them,” said Bobby Occena, principal of the new school. “The mission of the school is to provide opportunities for students to excel in early college and agri-science and the school to have a positive and lasting impact, not only on Bertie County but the northeast region of North Carolina.” said Jim Guard, the school’s agriculture teacher.
The Bertie County School System has taken an unusual step in creating a new type of high school to serve its population. Many school systems have established schools such as the Science, Technology, Engineering & Math school in Bertie County to train students interested in those fields, but few have gone to the lengths Bertie County has to serve the agricultural community.
According to a survey by Dr. Chip Zullinger, superintendent of Bertie County Schools, 74 percent of Bertie’s income is agriculturally based. He saw a need and built support for an unusual proposition: take the empty Southwestern Bertie High School and refit it as a new Early College high school with a specific focus on agricultural science. A wide coalition of universities and agencies, including North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T University, Shaw University, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, and
the New Schools Project, among others, contributed funding or other resources to bring the opportunity to Bertie County’s students.
Even private businesses are finding ways to be involved. “The agribusinesses, they’ve signed on and said that they are willing to do anything they can to make this happen. Some have even offered to donate land … that the students can [work with],” said Ricky Freeman, chairman of the Bertie Board of Education. “We received a lot of positive feedback from the agricultural community. This program really just came together.”
Although limited to Bertie County students for the first year, the project is envisioned as one that could eventually come to serve students from throughout this agriculture-heavy region. While the basic curriculum will be identical to that in a mainstream high school, to give students a solid, comprehensive high school education, the specialized courses available to them will cover a wide range of topics. Students attending the new school will be able to take courses in various agricultural science disciplines and topics, including agri-science, horticulture, biotechnology and agri-science research, animal science, equine science, environmental and natural resources, agricultural engineering, and production agriculture, Guard said.
When the students graduate in four years, they will have completed either an associate’s degree in these fields or will have two years of credit they can transfer to a four-year university to earn a bachelor’s degree. To complete the ambitious program, the school will not operate on a typical 180-day schedule, but will continue student projects and special programs with school and university faculty through the summer.
Leadership development will be stressed through clubs and organizations such as the FFA, and students will be required to complete hands-on projects that will require problem-solving and research skills that will prepare them for the modern agriculture industry.
Even with the specialization of so many aspects of the school, students will not be isolated from their peers. Like the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math school, many extracurricular activities and other functions will be based out of the mainstream Bertie High School.
The new School of Agri-Science Studies is only one of several pioneering educational prospects opening in Bertie County. NCSU, besides partnering in the agri-science school, will support a continuing education center through the Cooperative Extension Service. The center will provide classes and resources to the agricultural community at large and be based out of the former Southwest Bertie High School.
Shaw University also is working with the Early College project as well as building Bertie County’s first college campus. Shaw will conduct a special program in which selected Bertie County high school graduates will work during the day in the Bertie County Schools system and take classes in the evening toward an education degree from Shaw, allowing them real-world job experience while seeking a degree.
John Calvin Young is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.