Category: Agricultural Program

The Spring State Staff Tour wrapped up at the Lee County Career & Technology Center, with a visit with Beth Tolson. Lee County Career Center offers a magnitude of hands on experiences for students, ranging from working in the Greenhouse, raising goats or learning how to raise plants using hydroponics .

The State Staff was able to visit Joe Gleason and his students at Lake View High School. Located in Dillon County, Mr. Gleason is excelling at providing his students the opportunity to learn practical, hands on skills necessary for success after high school.

The State Staff was welcomed by Mr. Lee Mayfield, to tour his program at Green Sea Floyds High School in rural Horry County. Mr. Mayfield certainly has engaged his students in hands on learning and provides them to be successful after high school. We also had the opportunity to spend time with a few students who have the goal of one day being an agricultural educator.  

The final stop of the first day of the Spring State Staff Tour was at Aynor High School. Agricultural Educators Nate Bellamy and Grant Hall. While we missed seeing Mr. Hall since he was at a conference out of state, Mr. Bellamy provided an outstanding tour of the program. Aynor has a wonderful facility that maximizes student engagement and offerings. It was a great visit where we learned a little about the history of the program and the community of Aynor.

On the third stop on the State Staff Tour, the team stopped at Conway High School. During the visit, the agricultural program was in the midst of a soft opening of their plant sale. The students were extremely busy assisting donors with plant selection and sales. Other students showed off their AgriScience Fair projects in which they have been working all year on.

Carolina Forest is a two teacher program on a very large but beautiful campus. Teachers Natalie money and Marlette Watson offer two pathways for students, ENR and Horticulture. Students are actively engaged in hands on activities including building raised beds, establishing tanks for catfish and running a successful greenhouse.

The second stop of the State Staff Spring program tour was to visit Logan Gore at Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach. The students in the agricultural program are conducting hands on, real world work experiences by maintaining athletic fields, producing plants for the greenhouse sale and building and selling Adirondack chairs. 

The first stop on the Spring State Staff Tour was to St. James High School in Murrells Inlet. This new program on a beautiful campus, is home to  students who are enthusiastic about the new Agriculture program and what they can do in the FFA along side their Advisor, Andrew Hall.

Lakeside Middle makes weekly sales to a local catering company. This week we harvested bags full of collards, arugula, broccoli and lettuce. This consistent income has helped fund our program and allowed our students to see the impact of their hard work. This partnership has also helped our agriculture program become more visible in our community and given our students a sense of pride in their work.