KUNA, Idaho — Kuna High School, the school district, Agricultural Science teachers and students have big plans to build a 'Land Lab' on five acres of donated land. Now they need the funding.
- Kuna School District School Board approved that fiver acres of the 100 acres of donated land would be for FFA facilities
- Follow along with FFA students on their Facebook page.
- Learn more about Kuna High School's FFA Chapter here.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Five acres of land holds a lot of potential for development here in the Treasure Valley.
I’m your Kuna Neighborhood Reporter Allie Triepke and I spoke with students and faculty at Kuna High School to talk about their goals to make this land behind me, a ‘Land Lab’.
Kuna High School’s Future Farmers of America program is award winning.
“FFA has been so amazing for me and has turned into one of the most important things in my life," said Hattie Brechwald, FFA Student President at Kuna High School.
FFA Student President Hattie Brechwald lives on her family's farm and knows firsthand how valuable the hands-on experience is for students.
“So, I have the opportunity to raise livestock but I have a couple close friends that have raised livestock at our house because they don't have facilities.” (Brechwald)
The high school's program now has plans to expand, to offer students a space to raise livestock.
I spoke with Kuna's FFA Advisor, Travis Edwards, in their on-campus greenhouse, one of the few places they currently have for hands-on coursework.
Edwards says students would be able to use the 'Land Lab' facilities all year to raise animals for fair competitions that usually take place in the summer.
“A lot of our students don’t have the resources to raise their own livestock projects the way I did when I was growing up here," said Edwards.
In December, Kuna’s School Board approved for five of the 100 acres of land along E Kuna Rd to be used for hands-on agricultural science coursework.
The land was originally donated to the District eight years ago.
“The Thornton’s, who donated the land, were founding members of the Kuna FFA Chapter way back in 1949. We’ve really been able to come full circle, and we’re excited at the prospect of using part of this Thornton land, and where we hopefully can serve these students in a way that we haven’t been able to do before," Edwards explained.
Next, the school will search for funding to build those animal structures and student classrooms.
“My biggest piece of advice is to just get involved, get your hands dirty and do everything that you can in this program. Having that Land Lab would just be another opportunity that's available for students that would only better their high school career” said Brechwald.
Kuna High School’s FFA Chapter will ring in 75 years of teaching high school students the fundamentals of agriculture sciences this summer.
