FRANKFORT, Ky. — For anyone associated with ag education, they know it’s about more than just raising livestock and crops. Today’s ag classrooms consist of program areas that include accounting, science, English, communications, marketing … and the list goes on.

 However, one very traditional class still being taught in most state agriculture programs is ag mechanics. While this program of study may have the look and feel of the old “shop class,” students are learning far more than how to put a tractor together, according to J.R. Zinner, an agriculture teacher at Western Hills High School (WHHS).

He said there are many valuable skills students can learn and take to their more mainstream studies. “The ag mechanics courses here and across the state teach students application, critical thinking processes, trouble-shooting and it makes them more aware of a lot the things they can do for themselves,” said Zinner.

“There is also a large portion of our industry that’s still hiring students with a skill-set of mechanical knowledge.”

He added his program is geared toward giving the students extra skills that are hands-on and require that trouble-shooting thought process, which becomes useful in other classrooms.

“We want to take the content and step it up to a higher level of application so a student can think through a process and evaluate what’s going on,” he said. “So the mechanics portion of my curriculum allows them to do that.”

Zinner said his students also bring content from other classes into the ag mechanics lab and apply it in an area that is specialized. “We’re looking at everything from ag power and machinery systems, hydraulic, pneumatics, physics, ag construction, calculations, mathematics, science, thermal dynamics and the list could go on and on.”

Zinner’s ag power and machinery class is working on a number of projects, but the biggest is likely the restoration of a 1952 8N Ford Tractor, something that also lends itself to a history lesson.

“The students are doing all the research as far as Vehicle Identification Numbers, when the piece of equipment was actually released and understanding the applications of the equipment for what it was designed for on a farm – in this case, in the 1950s,” he explained.

While students put in a lot of work as part of this program, he said because they enjoy it so much, it doesn’t seem like work to them. Grace Higgs is a senior in the class and vice president of the Capital City Region FFA. She said being the only female in the class is a little different, but she is enjoying what’s being taught and bringing her own talents to it.

“For the last three years I’ve spent the majority of my time in the ag hall enrolled in classes based on animal science and leadership; however, I did want the opportunity to look at a different part of agriculture, so I decided to try mechanics out,” she said.

Higgs said the class has been fun so far and she is learning many skills that are and will be valuable to her. “With learning things like how to change the end of an electrical cord, learning how to change a spare tire and how to change my own oil, I feel like those are things that we as girls shouldn’t have to rely on a man to do. We should be able to do it, as well.”

She is lending her hobby of painting to the Ford tractor restoration by hand-detailing the “Ford” on various parts of the vehicle.

Higgs thinks she wants to go into veterinary medicine and feels like all of her ag classes, including the mechanics, will be helpful. “Not that I fully know, but I really believe that my future is going to be based on agriculture, and what I’ve learned and what I’ve had the opportunity to experience through agriculture education has really made me who I am,” she said.

Ben Tinsley is another senior in the ag mechanics program. He has grown up on a farm, so being involved in agriculture education is a natural fit for him – but it has also been a learning experience.

“I’ve learned that every machine is different in a sense, with different problems you have to face,” he said. “I’ve always been a hands-on learner and don’t think I could sit behind a desk every day.”

His plans for the future are to attend Western Kentucky University and further his studies in ag mechanics. “I’m going to Western to get a science and agriculture degree; you can specialize in a variety of subjects like forage or genetics, so I’m going to specialize in ag mechanics.”

Ultimately Tinsley wants to own his own farm equipment dealership and repair shop and is getting a head start by being involved in his agriculture program at the high school level.

“Mr. Zinner has given me the fundamentals of the ag mechanics industry and I believe I’ll be successful in the future,” he said. “I think the day that machines can fix themselves, will be the day an ag mechanic can retire.”

Zinner enjoys seeing his students become successful and credits the overall success of his ag program to a strong support network within the school, the school district and community partners. “I think we have a really good support system in our school. From our administrators to our colleagues in the core content areas, they get that there has to be application of the things we’re teaching,” he added. “Marrying agriculture and other career and technical education classes with core content classes, there are big benefits that come from that.”