LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Lima City Schools invited the public out to check out their new campus for their agriculture and engineering programs and the bright future that it will help provide.
Lima City Schools invited the public out to check out their new campus for their agriculture and engineering programs.
Getting the students ready for their future is the goal of the 12 career tech programs at Lima City Schools. And with the new campus, the Agriculture and Engineering Programs now have the tools to help them transition straight from high school to college or the workforce, because that is how the school designed it.
The Ag and Outdoor Occupation students can learn from raising live animals like chickens, ducks, and rabbits.
"We talked to UNOH, OSU Lima; they are preparing kids for the future, and how are you doing that? Well, that's how we're doing it, right? So, we are preparing them to go there. And then you look at companies like GROB and Ford; those guys have been a big part of this. Those guys are the future of our kids; we are preparing them to go work in those industries," explained Frank Hohlhoffer, career tech director at Lima City Schools.
The Ag and Outdoor Occupation students can learn from raising live animals like chickens, ducks, and rabbits, as well as other skills to be a greenskeeper, a welder, or even how to work in a greenhouse.
Students can learn skills to be a greenskeeper, a welder, or even how to work in a greenhouse.
"I thought it was amazing. It's really cool how they actually instead of having a little Ag building in school, they expanded it bigger than what it usually is in schools everywhere, and it's just a better opportunity," commented Cheyenne Recter, a junior in the Ag program at Lima Senior High School.
As for engineering, the students are learning on the same equipment that local manufacturers and colleges are using to help give the students a leg up after graduation.
"The Fanuc robot, the PEGASUS robot, some of the other stations that we have, like the Skill Boss, and I was really impressed with what we could do and what experience I could get from this building alone," said Keonte Newell, a senior in the engineering program at Lima Senior High School.
As for engineering, the students are learning on the same equipment that local manufacturers and colleges are using to help give the students a leg up after graduation.
With all this opportunity at the Ag and Engineering Campus, school officials are faced with a different but good challenge.
"The program and within the engineering and Ag, we're trying, like, one of the biggest challenges is organizing it in a way that all of our kids can get through all the pieces, right? We're offering so much with these things. How do we get all of it in within a 2-3 year period?" added Hohlhoffer.
Currently, there are around 50 students who utilize the new facility, but the school hopes to double that number in the future.
