Holtville High School is located in Holtville, California, in Imperial County. A small, rural community, Holtville possesses a population of approximately 6,435 residents. The Imperial Valley is situated in the south-eastern corner of California and is bordered on the north by Riverside County, west by San Diego County, south by Baja California, Mexico and on the east by Yuma County, Arizona. Only 15 minutes north of a large international border crossing in Mexicali, Mexico, the county’s population and culture are strongly influenced by the area’s large Hispanic population. The county is predominantly a rural agricultural area, geographically isolated from any large metropolitan areas in California. The local economy is largely dependent on agriculture, with a large percentage of parents and community stakeholders being employed in agriculture related jobs.
The Imperial Valley has a strong and diverse agriculture industry, specializing in vegetable production, hay, grain, and livestock production. The area boasts many advantages with a strong water supply from the Colorado River and a high number of growing days allowing year round production. There are numerous feedlots and the Imperial Valley rates among the leading in cattle producing counties in the state. As our county is known for its success in the agriculture industry, the Holtville High School Agriculture Department is also a program, which has been extremely successful.
The school services approximately 534 students in grades 9-12. The Agricultural Program teaches 160 students and is served by 2 teachers. The school demographics are: 88% hispanic, about 10% white and 2% other. The Agriculture Program demographics are 77% hispanic, 22% white, 1% other. The Vocational Agriculture Complex consists of a metals shop, wood shop, and agriculture science classroom in addition to two private teacher offices and a separate agriculture computer lab. Currently we have secured and are under construction for a $600,000 barn and are gearing up to make $200,000 worth of renovations to our shop facilities. In addition to these structures, an outside agricultural quad area is also available along with a shade house and planter box area. Two livestock show rings are located within walking distance of the classrooms.
Overview of Program Curriculum
As a department, we believe our greatest contribution is helping students achieve success in academics and their personal lives through agricultural education. Upon entering the program, freshmen have the opportunity to take three classes: Introduction to Agriculture Mechanics, Agriculture Science, and Agriculture Biology (meets the UC/CSU laboratory science requirement). From there, students may choose to follow more than one pathway and explore additional classes in the areas of mechanics and agriscience. Every student who enters this program has the opportunity to develop premier leadership skills and to grow personally while learning how to succeed in their chosen career. We encourage all members to participate in leadership training at all levels of the FFA. All courses are aligned to state and national standards.
Our science classes enforce the scientific method as all agriscience students complete an agriscience fair project, board, logbook, and research paper. During this project each student designs an experiment, formulates a hypothesis and then tests their theories. Each student competes at the chapter level, many at the county level with the general science department and numerous students enter their project at a field day or at state conference for higher levels of competition. We truly believe this project better prepares them for success in continuing education or in the workplace as students learn how to cite peer reviewed, scholarly sources, document experiments in a logbook, and write in a scientific way. Each year we incorporate a college visit from an agriscience based program to enforce the need for science based skill development in higher education. In three years of integrating these projects we have had four students win at the state level and compete in agriscience at National FFA convention.
In our ag mechanics pathway, students are trained in shop safety and fabrication skills in wood shop, a STICK and oxy lab, and a MIG and small engines lab. All students use inquiry based, hands-on learning to develop and design fair projects, draft bills of material and construct pieces showcased and marketed at our county fair to the community at large. Our students have won the ag mechanics sweepstakes and outstanding exhibitor awards at our fair for the past seven years. Our ag mechanics students cooperate with the school farm plant and animal areas by designing and implementing irrigation and pen systems as well as maintaining structures as mechanics is the support and infrastructure to all other agriculture pathways.
We have approved coursework for a food science program and have been searching to secure a third ag teacher to expand the programs food science course offerings. Our food science program will focus on food safety, a growing need in our community, reflecting our attention to current labor market needs in the local area.
Experiential Learning
The main way students excel in experiential learning is through the SAE circle. About 10% of our students have a work placement project with local growers, processors, packing facilities or other aspects of the agriculture industry. In the past 4 years we have had over 15 state finalists in proficiency award areas and 1 state star in agribusiness, demonstrating excellence and student success in this area. All pathway students also complete the computerized irecordbook on an annual basis and every student has an SAE project that is exhibited at the fair, a field day, or marketed to the general community so they have an experiential learning opportunity.
For students with barriers to outside employment we offer these experiences through school farm enterprises. One option students have for an SAE is to be involved in a school cooperative animal enterprise or exhibit their own animal at the fair. We have improved and expanded our animal science program at the high school by expanding a lamb and goat breeding project to increase hands on learning and SAE projects for underprivileged students. We have secured six breeding does, five ewes, one buck, and one ram. This project is completely student run through the school year and during the summer months. In exchange for their work students receive a free market lamb or goat for their labor and commitment to the project. Also, we have added three hydroponics units in partnership with a local catfish farm and a poultry unit hosting chickens and game birds for students interested in smaller animal projects that are also no cost to them.
These cooperatives are student run enterprises where they are responsible for feeding, health maintenance and investigations of feed and water quality. We also believe in having students complete in-depth lab investigations in class that tie to these SAE opportunities. We use fecal analysis, urine analysis, food nutrient analysis, animal system dissections, vital sign readings, incubation rate comparisons and a broad spectrum of injection and vaccination labs just to name a few. Students run feed trials, parasitic analysis comparisons of animals based on feed and housing systems, and test water quality in many of these farm projects. Students artificially inseminate goats on the school farm, and draw designs in CAD programs hammering home that agriculture is about cutting edge technology. Lastly, students in our program receive certifications in Elanco Animal Health and EETC Small Engine Technology.
Further, we have a school shade house and farm area for plant science interests. This area has over 20 raised beds where students start vegetable crops from seed or donated transplants from Keithly-Williams seeds and market their project to the local community. Here students design and test different methods of irrigation, the germination and growth rate of seeds, and test soil quality samples through classroom laboratories as well.