Author: Jacob Ison
Planning Unit: Elliott County CES
Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home
Plan of Work: Youth Agriculture outreach in the community
Outcome: Long-Term Outcome
Not long after I became the New ANR agent in Elliott Co., Mrs Makayla Lewis, the Elliott Co. Highschool Ag. Teacher, came to me with a concern and need in the community. She explained the need for a new Plant Based Science facility at ECHS, she explained that the other had become outdated and unsafe for everyday lessons and use by the youth in her agr. classes and programs. We met with the ECHS Superintendent and discussed our need and began planning our path to work towards a New ECHS Greenhouse.
We Decided that we needed to raise around $35,000 to purchase a new plant based science facility and also be able to fill it with new equipment that Mrs. Lewis would need to be able to offer the students of ECHS and competitive education in Plant Based Science Field. Mrs. Lewis and I researched for grant money and were able to find, apply, and receive almost all that we sought after.
The Grants and donations that we received for this project were as listed...
Give Back To Your Roots Grants $5,000
Marathon, Community Investment Program $10,000
Soil Conservation donation $1,000
Morehead Wood Production $2,000
KADF Matching fund of $15,000
Personal Donations of $5,250
After all these grants and personal donations listed above we were able to raise a total of $39,250
This Exciting new Facility on ECHS Campus will immediately and directly affect Mrs. Lewis and her 84 kids that she has daily in her Plant Based Science classes by allowing them to have the most up to date and advanced equipment to study Plant Based Science Lessons. This will also be beneficial long term to students coming up through ECHS and have a interest in Agriculture for years to come. Here in Elliott County we take pride in the development of our youth and want to always put their educational needs first.
This Facility will not only be beneficial to the youth but also to the costumers and shoppers who use it, as the new greenhouse location will allow clients with limited mobility and the elderly community to access the greenhouse with out any steps or obstacles which had been a problem that had mention often of the previous greenhouse
The New Greenhouse will also allow more opportunities for Extension to work with and provide horticulture programming with the farmers and future farmers in our community.
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