High school students across the state of Kentucky are met with the challenges of becoming college and/or career ready prior to graduation. In our still rather rural community, college isn't always the most optimal route for high school students so they are introduced to the work force. To become career ready, these students can obtain industry certifications through educational trainings, competitions, internships, etc. The Beef Quality Care and Assurance Program is a certification driven program that is for beef producers or those who may be interested in going into beef production/animal husbandry. The certification process involves further education in beef quality, care, assurance, and overall best management practices as organized by the Kentucky Beef Network (KBN). 

One of the McCracken County Agriculture Education teachers from McCracken County High School reached out to me about coming to come to the school and teach the BQCA program for some of their students in the ag department. Since I am the local certified trainer for BQCA, I agreed to support their program and offered two separate trainings.

My target audience for these trainings were high school ag students who are currently enrolled in the freshman agriscience classes as well as the animal science program. After completion of both sessions with 100% passing rate, 102 MCHS ag students were BQCA certified as well as 2 of the 4 ag teachers. These students and teachers are now BQCA certified for the next 3 years, and all 102 students are considered career ready by the industry certification requirements. This will not only benefit the high school's school wide college and career readiness scores, but it will provide these students with more career readiness as the enter the workforce. As it was recently confirmed that a veterinary school will be coming to our local university within the next few years, these students can use this certification to also help in their studies if they choose to continue with secondary education. Bringing more large animal veterinary practices to our region, providing support to the livestock industry and our economy.