CARNEY, Mich. — In the spring of 2014, the Stephenson school district closed the doors on the last agriscience program and FFA chapter in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) because of districtwide budget cuts.
One year later, neighboring school district Carney-Nadeau in Carney launched a brand new program, ending the year-long drought that left Michigan’s northernmost location void of any state-certified agriscience and natural resources education programs.
Former Stephenson instructor Pat Wehner was hired for the new position in the district that borders her hometown district, where she taught for more than 20 years. Wehner spent the 2014-15 school year teaching in a Wisconsin district three hours from home.
"The community in this district kept their ears to the ground, saw the void and sought to fill it," said Adam Cocco, interim superintendent and high school principal for the Carney-Nadeau District.
"The community wanted the program, and the administration and school board listened to what the community wanted," Wehner added.
Logging, dairy, paper mills and tourism are the major industries within this district that has 254 students enrolled in preschool through 12th grade. According to Cocco, 65 percent of district students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
In this tiny school with only 10 teachers for grades 7-12, all students in 7-10 will take agriscience to fulfill state science requirements. "Applied science is shown to improve ACT scores and the hands-on nature of agriscience should help with that. It is a win-win situation," Wehner said.
Neighboring school districts have been invited to participate in the new program and the district has grown by 20 students this year – at least four of those have come to the district by way of school-of choice, and solely because of the agriscience program. The neighboring Stephenson FFA alumni group will join with Carney-Nadeau, creating a countywide FFA alumni organization for support.
The district is remotely located in the southwestern corner of the U.P. known as the Banana Belt. It is a closer drive to the Wisconsin State FFA Convention than to any FFA events held in Lansing, Michigan’s hub of FFA activity. The county is in Central Time, while most of the state is in Eastern.
"Every FFA activity is at least a two-day trip," Wehner explained.
The chapter will participate in some leadership events in Wisconsin. For some Michigan FFA opportunities, it will depend upon the hospitality of hosting chapter members and their families for overnight accommodations.
Wehner and the district hope to create a sense of entrepreneurship through student involvement in FFA and agriscience. "We are training kids to move away. This program could really help kids discover and make opportunities that could keep them in the communities where they grow up," she said.
"We are also training them to be better consumers, even if they never are employed in agriculture or a related field. We can give them a background so they can make informed choices and be ambassadors for agriculture in the future."
Carney-Nadeau members are not attending the National FFA Convention in Louisville this week; however, Cocco and at least one board member is making the trip to get a firsthand look at opportunities within the organization. The chapter has already begun fundraising for a future trip to the national convention and for the state convention at the Michigan State University campus in March 2016.
