2019-2020 Residency
At one of our parent council meetings in the spring of 2019, we talked about sharing our agricultural heritage with students outside our school. We threw out the idea of creating some form of residency where students would come to our school for a few days, experience learning in the Agriculture Learning Centre, and be immersed in some traditional rural culture. The next day, Mrs. Jinel Ference approached the school with the idea of creating a private-public partnership for a residency program.
At one of our parent council meetings in the spring of 2019, we talked about sharing our agricultural heritage with students outside our school. We threw out the idea of creating some form of residency where students would come to our school for a few days, experience learning in the Agriculture Learning Centre, and be immersed in some traditional rural culture. The next day, Mrs. Jinel Ference approached the school with the idea of creating a private-public partnership for a residency program.
In October 2019, we saw this idea come to fruition when we hosted 30 students at our first residency. Students participated in several crop tours, lived in the Neutral Hills, hiked, played games, did school work at the school, were introduced to our local game of disking, had a morning at the Chinook Applied Research Association studying soils, and multiple opportunities to socialize. Throughout these days the focus was “What’s on Your Plate?” Students helped prepare their own meals to help gain a better appreciation for the Field to Fork concept. Mrs. Ference is responsible for lodging, tours, and food. As a school we handle registration, and course work. Students were able to walk away with four credits because of the work over these days. We also include some online work with this trip. Moving forward, we hope to expand this trip to other schools in our division and province.
In October 2019, we saw this idea come to fruition when we hosted 30 students at our first residency. Students participated in several crop tours, lived in the Neutral Hills, hiked, played games, did school work at the school, were introduced to our local game of disking, had a morning at the Chinook Applied Research Association studying soils, and multiple opportunities to socialize. Throughout these days the focus was “What’s on Your Plate?” Students helped prepare their own meals to help gain a better appreciation for the Field to Fork concept. Mrs. Ference is responsible for lodging, tours, and food. As a school we handle registration, and course work. Students were able to walk away with four credits because of the work over these days. We also include some online work with this trip. Moving forward, we hope to expand this trip to other schools in our division and province.