Imagine an agriculture centre, attached to a school in a rural town, that is managed by students. There is a Board comprising a President, vice-President, Secretary, and Directors at Large that makes everyday decisions, and a rotating ‘chore team’ that looks after the livestock, supervised by teachers. Sound far fetched? Nope! On Monday 26 August, the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat had the privilege of visiting the Agriculture Discovery Centre in Irvine, a student-led farm in the grounds of Irvine School.
The idea of the Centre was conceived by Nicole Neubauer, after she had seen, through inviting young people to her farm, how much they enjoyed experiencing hands-on learning about aspects of agriculture. The idea was transformed into a proposal that was supported by both the Prairie Rose Public School Division (who interrogated the ‘why’ of the proposal) and the Irvine School. It was started in the grounds of Irvine School in 2021 and opened in the spring of 2022.
This program at Irvine School is amazingly successful. At what? A number of things:
- Offering school children, the opportunity to take on responsibility in an area in which they are interested, encouraging hard work, and giving them the wonderfully motivating and esteem-building experience of achievement and success
- This success in turn encourages self-control and motivation to keep on working towards successful outcomes
- The program gives them the opportunity to think beyond themselves, through caring for, nurturing and taking responsibility, for animals
- Hands-on learning about livestock, crops and sustainable development
- Deepening the students understanding of the food chain and of the origins of the food they eat every day (no, it’s not from Skip the Dishes!!), and:
- Life skills development, including democratic decision-making, problem-solving, and teamwork, these skills translating into other areas of the student’s lives – and preparing them, for example, for leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector
The Centre is open 7 days a week and has, in the short time since opening, become an agro-tourism hub, attracting and welcoming regular and new visitors. Nicole understands the importance of public education, one reason being that to influence policy and the government, the public needs to be informed about agriculture and the related issues and concerns.
Nicole, Ty and others keep the Centre cared for during school vacations, so that the labour of the students is not lost.
Succession planning is done so that the student management of the Centre is handed over smoothly when the Grade 9s leave Irvine School to continue their education at a High School. Both present and past students are great ambassadors of this life-changing program.
The Centre also serves as an example of how rural schools can and need to reinvent themselves, drawing on and working with their assets, in this instance, offering hands-on learning about agriculture.
A strong recommendation: visit the Agriculture Discovery Centre, talk with Nicole and Ty, and see how you can support this innovative, very successful prairie province endeavour, of which we can all be so proud.
Medicine Hat, AB T1B 3T8
Canada