HOPE — At a school where more than a third of its students are in some way involved in the local agriculture program, a learning environment with state-of-the-art technology and versatile equipment is important.
That’s why Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. has invested $1.4 million this year into updating Hauser Jr./Sr. High School’s 10,000-square-foot agriculture facility.
Hauser ag teacher Aleesa Dickerson said the decades-old building hadn’t been updated since it was built with the exception of a new air handling unit and a connection between the ag facility and the school building.
“Everything that was out there beside a projector or a dry erase board, everything out there was original,” Dickerson said. “You can imagine with that many years and that many kids that things just don’t really hold up.”
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The physical appearance of the facility was clearly aging and was not very functional for the current learning experience of Hauser students. After its original completion, the building was incredibly functional for the services offered then, such as wood shop. Dickerson said the agricultural education landscape has since evolved into a more scientific approach.
“We’re teaching more food science and animal science. We’re still teaching an ag power class which is like the traditional shop class, but things kind of moved away from the trades for a while,” she said. “We’re swinging the pendulum back toward the trades now, but at the same time the machinery is different. It’s automated. It’s updated.”
The previous facility wasn’t properly equipped to train students for practical, real-world application, school officials said.
“That was the big push is we weren’t meeting the needs of our students, preparing them for life after high school because we were existing in a facility that was 60 years old,” Dickerson said.
Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. Superintendent Shawn Price said the building is being completely re-imagined. Every interior wall has been removed and a completely new floor plan was designed to fit the space.
The new space will feature a welcome center, animal science lab with a fully-equipped kitchen, an ag mechanics classroom, conference and meeting room, staff office, new restrooms, a small animal room adjacent to the greenhouse and a large collaborative shop space complete with a new welding lab.
“Everything will be different,” Dickerson said. “We’re going to be able to provide more opportunities for our students. The kids have worked hard to prove that they’re doing really cool things. We want to give them a facility that they can do that in.”
The Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. school board approved advertising for bids on Aug. 6, and bids were accepted by the board on Sept. 10. A contract was awarded to Poole Group Inc. Price said the estimated cost of the building renovations is priced at $1,417,175.
Dickerson said the school board’s decision to improve the community’s agriculture facility validates the work being done by local students.
Hauser principal David Wintin said the school’s agriculture program has been outstanding, earning recognition on the local, state and national levels and hiring two agriculture teachers who foster classrooms where students want to spend their time.
“Our FFA program, close to one-third of students are probably involved in FFA in one way or another. We’ve always had that history,” Wintin said. “We are a bit of a rural farming community in some fashion. We’re not all farmers anymore but there’s still a lot of ag industry influence here. This new facility is an indication of what’s been done with the program.”
Kelly Dressler also teaches agriculture courses at Hauser and said she’s excited for a space where students can learn, apply their knowledge to projects and ultimately transfer that knowledge to the real world.
“This will be an area where students will be able to get the fully-comprehensive education platform,” Dressler said. “We have a space that will be fresh, new and super inviting for the kids as well as a space that we can fully educate them on any spectrum.”
Throughout the process, Dressler and Dickerson have been in contact with local industries including Cummins Inc. and Toyota to learn what kind of equipment should be included in the new facility, what curriculum should be taught and how the organizations can partner so that students are prepared to walk into these industries and know what to do.
The facility is expected to be ready for use by spring 2020.
“It’s happened a lot faster than I actually thought it ever would and that’s because of the involvement of our kids, the success of our kids and the dedication of our kids,” Dickerson said. “They’re here for it. We need to capitalize on that.”
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The Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. school board approved advertising for bids for the project in August, and the contract was awarded to Poole Group Inc. in September.
The total cost of the building renovations is estimated at $1,417,175.
The approximately 10,000-square-foot building is being completely renovated with a new floor plan. The new space will include a welcome center, an animal science lab with a fully equipped kitchen, an ag mechanics classroom, a conference and meeting room, staff office, new restrooms, a small animal room adjacent to the greenhouse, and a large collaborative shop space complete with a new welding lab.
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