Chicago students raise livestock, plants and fish - right in the city limits
Jessica Walker | 09/02/2010 |
Anything but typical, the Chicago High School for the Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS) offers what most schools simply cannot.
For starters, the magnet school includes a working farm – complete with cows, chickens, goats and other animals – in the heart of one of the largest cities in the United States.
Sound interesting? It is.
The school – housing ninth-, tenth-, 11th- and 12th-graders – sits on 80 acres and was built in 1985. In addition to a farm, the campus is home to a variety of handy amenities, including a greenhouse, atrium, Olympic-sized swimming pool, food-science lab and more.
However, even though the campus is spacious, enrollment caps at 600 students each year, with no more than 150 students in each grade.
“Last year, 1,350 kids applied for 150 seats,” says Rick Johnson, Agricultural Finance and Economics teacher at CHSAS. Those admitted to the school are chosen through a lottery system.
Because it is so small, the school has a small-town feel – quite a feat for an institution in Chicago.
“Everybody knows everybody,” Johnson says. “There’s a lot of respect for teachers and students.”
As freshmen, students are required to take two agriculture-related courses in addition to “regular” classes, such as English and algebra. Sophomores spend their school year choosing one of five “pathways” – Animal Science, Agricultural Mechanics, Agricultural Finance and Economics, Horticulture, or Food Science.
“Each sophomore spends eight weeks with each teacher in each pathway,” Johnson says. “On the last day of the school year, the students take a survey and pick the area they want to be in.”
As juniors and seniors, students are expected to diligently pursue their chosen pathways. And while freshmen and sophomores take music, art and physical education, upperclassmen only take college-prep classes and pathway-related courses.
“It’s pretty intense, even for teachers,” Johnson says. “There’s no playtime. It’s all about education, whether it’s agricultural or not.”
Even though schedules are rigorous, there’s still a lot of fun to be had. Students not only work on the farm, they operate the school’s farm stand and a 5-acre market garden. They sell a variety of goods, including their No. 1 product – genetically modified sweet corn.
In addition, CHSAS has a strong athletics program. Football, soccer and baseball are just a few of the sports in which students can participate. Athletes compete in the small school division in Chicago and have won city championships.
“We have a balance,” Johnson says. “We have to realize not every kid is going to do agriculture.”
And, of course, there’s FFA. All of the students are members of the school’s chapter, which is the largest in Illinois and the fifth largest in the nation. Not surprisingly, FFA is a pretty big deal at CHSAS. In fact, the school doesn’t even have a student council – Johnson says FFA officers get the job done.
The “job,” whether it’s taking care of animals or making sure the farm stand is running smoothly, must get done 365 days a year – even during vacation time.
“The serious FFA members are here two, three, sometimes four days a week in the summer,” Johnson says. But, it’s safe to say the students don’t mind too much.
“I don’t think they get enough,” he says.
In fact, Johnson says most of the students attending CHSAS are “overachievers” – a mindset he says teachers, including him, encourage.
“We have to make them into overachievers in order for them to succeed,” he says. “What you put into it is what you get out of it.”
To motivate his students, Johnson keeps his classes enjoyable.
“I make mine fun,” he says. “The kids are having a great time. It’s a lot easier to learn when you’re having fun.”
And the kids aren’t the only ones having a good time.
“This is one of those jobs I could do for free,” Johnson says.
Jessica Walker
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