LEXINGTON, Ky. — When it comes to schools, most are similar in many aspects – until one sees the new Locust Trace Agri-Science Farm.

This one-of-a-kind facility represents a new era of agricultural education, bringing academic classrooms and a real working farm together to teach and train students in many ag-related areas. It is located in the heart of horse farm country and places an emphasis on equine studies – but there is so much more to the school, including its net-zero design, enabling the building to be self-sufficient when it comes to energy use.

Perhaps the most unique feature about this school is the presence of a real working veterinarian clinic, the only one like it in the country. Last month the school celebrated the opening of the clinic, inviting the public and media to get a firsthand look.

Locust Trace Principal Joe Normal said there’s nothing like it anywhere. “I don’t know of any other high school in the country that has this type of setup,” he said of the clinic design. “This was a very key component for us to really enhance education and the ‘why I need to know this’ aspect of academics.

“The students study a lot of this in science, biology and chemistry classes, but now they’ll be able to see it actually being used.”

Norman added the vet clinic features a live video-audio feed to other classrooms of the examination rooms, the prep area and the surgery room so students can watch and communicate with the doctor in whatever they are doing and greatly improving the students’ learning experience.

He also said the clinic will give students a firsthand look at what is expected of them in the real world of work, something unique to those involved in most career and technical education areas.

The vet clinic will operate in many regards just like any other, being fully staffed and open to the community while giving students the chance to be engaged in whatever is going on. Local veterinarian Dr. Jim Martin will head up the facility, treating animals while teaching students animal health and care.

Martin, who has previously taught at Berea College and Eastern Kentucky University, has a mixed-size animal practice in Lexington and began working on an idea several years ago. It wasn’t until the birth of Locust Trace, however, that the idea came to fruition.

“This is the only vet clinic on-site of a high school campus in the nation. Our goal is to work with the teachers to find out what their needs are and add hands-on mentorship where we, as professionals, are giving our time to the students through the teachers to help them have something we never really had,” he said.

Martin noted requirements are different now than when he began his education in veterinarian medicine. Students today are required to have worked for a time in a clinic-type setting before being accepted to vet school. This facility will enable them to do just that.

He also pointed out the clinic will help students get a mental picture of their studies and learn, for instance, how physics can be better understood by treating the animals in different ways.

“I think it is time we got excited about students and tell them to get high on learning, get excited, get a dream and pursue it with passion. This is what it’s all about. The ultimate goal is for someone to do for those kids what someone did for me, and that is help me make my dream come true of being a veterinarian,” said Martin.

Tessa Lube, a senior at Locust Trace, said she had taken ag classes before but discovered the vet clinic at the beginning of this school year.

“I’ve known I wanted to be a vet since elementary school, but it didn’t hit me that I wanted to take ag classes until last year,” she said. “Since we have a barn here and there’s going to be horses and cows and all different kinds of livestock, having a vet clinic here will help me to understand what to do if, for instance, a horse broke its leg.”

Kandice Beglau, another senior, said being at Locust Trace makes her feel a part of something important – being the first class at the school. Camila Modica has been involved in ag education for a couple of years and said with her family being in the horse business, the school is a perfect place for her.

“I’ve always known I wanted to work with animals and wanted to pursue my career as a vet after high school, and being able to come to a school where you prepare for that, it’s an advantage,” she said.

Modica also said her parents are excited about her being able to come to a school where she can prepare for her future.