TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Between math classes and science labs, Tanque Verde High School has a barn, chicken coop, greenhouse and welding machines. The school's agriculture program has completely changed over the last year and created an hands on outdoor experience. The school also has a precision manufacturing class that works hand in hand with the agriculture class.
Now, the program has cows, fish, chickens, turkeys and lambs for the students to learn about farming. Melina Travis is a senior and the president of Tanque Verde High School's Future Farmers of America club. She said she saw how the program wasn't working before their teacher Craig Bal took over.
"I think the next step is really bringing animals on to campus," Travis said. "We started laying concrete we started putting the barn together and slowly it all started coming together."
Since the beginning of the school year, the students have been hard at work. They built the barn from scratch.
"This is great and I love his class," Michael McKenna, a junior at Tanque Verde, said. "I have it three times a day and it has become my lifestyle and my passion."
Bal said he always wanted to teach about these subjects because the workforce needs more passionate people.
"It's really teaching them ownership, responsibility and pride in this program," Bal said.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Youtube
