Enka High Raising the Bar(n)

A collage showing EHS agriculture teacher and FFA club advisor Mikayla Beysher and EHS FFA student officers.

By Tim Reaves
BCS Communications Department

BCS educators know that experience is the best teacher, and that’s especially true in technical careers like agriculture.

Enka High School’s (EHS) agriculture students were ecstatic when they learned their school won a $25,000 North Carolina Schools Go Outside (GO) Grant to build a new barn on campus. The project, scheduled for completion by the end of 2021, will replace an older storage structure with a fully-functioning barn. This new barn will create work-based learning experiences in several different fields, said EHS senior and Future Farmers of America (FFA) officer Alex Paine.

“We’ll have a better chance to actually practice our careers and learn at our own pace,” he said. “It’s a whole other classroom where kids can learn hands-on skills that they can use after they get out of high school.”

The new barn will be designed specifically to house livestock species like cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens, creating opportunities for EHS students to learn about the complexities and specific needs of the different animals, said EHS agriculture teacher and FFA club advisor Mikayla Beysher. The larger barn also will have more room for equipment storage, giving students more chances to practice farming techniques.

“It will be up to industry standards and show students what they will have contact with if they go into the animal science industry,” Ms. Beysher said. “It’s preparing them for real careers like organic farming, veterinary medicine, animal husbandry, feed milling, agriculture sales, and more.”

Agriculture education follows a “three circle model,” Ms. Beysher explained. Students learn fundamental principles in their classroom studies, apply those skills and build leadership through FFA, and gain valuable job training through Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs.

“This barn will prepare many more kids for their careers and give them more options,” said EHS junior and FFA officer Jobi Hill. “Having the barn and all the animals is going to bring us closer together, because we’ll get to work together and learn together.”

The $25,000 covers part of the estimated $60,000 total cost of the barn, Ms. Beysher said. Anyone interested in helping can contact Ms. Beysher or fellow FFA club advisor Kevin Franklin.

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