SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — Jacky Diaz was curious about the courses offered in the agricultural sciences at McKay High School in Salem. Diaz, a junior who is the president of the local Future Farmers of America, said her interest began through a summer job.
“It all started with the summer job that I had where we did organic farming and they told me about FFA and about agriculture classes at McKay and it really made me interested in learning more,” Diaz told KOIN 6 News. “I decided that this was a path that I wanted to choose.”
Students at McKay High learn there are many professions to consider.
Agricultural Sciences teacher Gerald Hosler said farming and ranching are just a small portion of the possibilities.
“That’s a very important component, but there’s a lot more out there for them to get involved in,” Hosler said. “I always challenge students every year to think of any career that they can think of that’s not related to agriculture in some form or fashion. And in the 8 years I’ve been here, I’ve never been stumped. They’ll say, ‘Astronauts.’ Well, how are you going to eat in space? There’s agricultural involved in space. Cosmetics, a lot of cosmetics are derived from various plants. So all these different industries that kids want to be involved in are somehow always going to be related to agriculture when you get down to the raw products.”
Diaz said she’s learned about animal anatomy, how to run a greenhouse, even how to sell flowers from that greenhouse. Now, her confidence is growing.
“It has made me a better leader in my skills. And before I took these classes, I was very quiet. I was just by myself and I really went in, like, try not to talk to anyone else,” she said. “And after I joined FFA and I started to get to know more people, I started expanding my circle more and wanting to be more open to people.”
Classmate Memphis Hukill knew he wanted to take this class but didn’t know he’d love it so much.
“I wanted to take this class because I wanted to learn more about animals and it’s a good opportunity for me in the future and it goes hand to hand with the FFA,” said Hukill, who is also the FFA treasurer. “I pretty much joined because of FFA, but I love, this is one of my favorite classes to come to.”
He said there is “a lot of fun stuff. We are constantly doing labs and I know it’s a good experience for the future because we’ve done marketing, we’ve done dissections, and it’s something I kind of want to do in the future.”
Students in the class have an annual plant sale, with proceeds helping them go to state and national FFA competitions.
In the fall, the Salem-Keizer School District will add a new behavioral health and human services program along with one on aviation in their Career Technical Education Center.
It’s always gratifying for a teacher when students start to have a better idea about what they want to do after high school.
“It’s been really phenomenal for me to see individual students who take that passion and that career and really progress forward into that,” Hosler said.
And he has a convert in Jacky Diaz.
“Professionally? I really want to be an agriculture teacher and teach students more about agriculture and greenhouse management.”