Agriculture program at EHS receives two grants
Published 11:12 pm Tuesday, February 8, 2022
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Photo Contributed Hayden Culbert oxy-fuel welds during agriculture mechanics.
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FROM STAFF REPORTS
Elizabethton High School’s agriculture program recently received grants for welding and robotic gardening programs.
The first grant was an American Welding Society Foundation 2022 Light a Spark Grant provided through a partnership with Miller Electric and the AWS foundation.
As part of the grant, the school will receive a starter package of equipment and supplies to introduce welding into a high school Ag-Ed Career and Technical Education Class.
The school’s newly started Agriculture Mechanics and Engineering program, which is under the instruction of Jerry Agan, will receive the equipment package valued at more than $14,000.
The second grant will help the school secure a robotic gardening system as part of the “Living to Serve” grant from the National FFA Organization and Tractor Supply Company.
With the grant, the school will be allowed to secure a cutting edge, CNC robotic farming robot called FarmBot Genesis.
The FarmBot will provide students at EHS the opportunity to have a hands-on extracurricular technical project that inspires students to pursue further education in STEM fields such as electronics, mechanical engineering, robotics, and soil science.
Over 500 educational institutions have integrated FarmBot into their curriculum.
Agan, Elizabethton FFA Advisor, and agriculture instructor, hopes to use the FarmBot to engage students of various interests.
“Agriculture is more than soil and a seed — it’s a science. From chemistry to computer programming, there is opportunities for any student interested in feeding the world,” said Agan.
The goal of the program is for the agriculture program at the high school to work with computer sciences, marketing, and culinary programs.
More information on the FarmBot system can be found on their website: www.farm.bot .
