Timber Creek High School’s very own farm on campus
By Brayden Arnett
The ag yard at Timber Creek High School has been there for some time.This is where they house many animals such as goats, chickens, turkeys, and pigs. They also have a beautiful greenhouse.
Many parts of the yard are used for different things such as the greenhouse. The greenhouse is used for growing plants and constantly measuring and keeping an eye on them. Ms. Emma Hamoui’s students are growing different types of flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables there right now. Ms. Hamoui is Timber Creeks Agriscience Foundations teacher. She teaches about plants, soil, trees etc. When asked about how she encourages students to join her class and help with Ag yard she responded with, “Most of the time students get thrown into my class and enjoy it. Some kids started it in middle school and continued. What really helps is our petting zoos during lunch.” During both lunches the ag teachers and students help set up a “petting zoo” of some of the school’s animals to help foundations or encourage students to join classes or even be in FFA. The club FFA stands for the Future Farmers of America. It is a club that welcomes everyone and encourages students who join to promote and participate in agriculture and leadership.
Many students do FFA which is another club that correlates with the ag yard because the students house their animals there. They all do their best and have great teamwork with each other to keep the ag yard safe and clean. Sophomore Emily Diner, who shows Polish Chickens, spoke about how the ag yard benefits her and her chickens. Diner said, “The accessibility that the Ag yard gives. It’s a good area, and has good supplies I use the hose for the water at least once a week so that is very helpful. Also it’s a good area to clean our coops and we have a lot of space.” The Ag yard helps many students like Diner to give a good life for their animals.
It has been here since the school was built and started. At first it started out with a greenhouse and using it for plant purposes only. As time went on more people wanted to yard to be used for more then that’s when they started bringing animals in for the FFA club members so they can keep a eye on their animals that is in a place accessible to them. It was hard to get the people to join and the animals took time to get but once they did the Ag yard it what we known it as now.
Chicken on the loose! This is from the week before winter break during our winter themed spirit week. The ag and vet clinic students and teachers held a petting zoo during both A and B lunches where they brought out different animals for students to look at, pet and ask questions about! Ms. Hamoui adds, referring to the petting zoos during lunch, “The petting zoo helps bring in students that didn’t even think about liking agriculture or FFA, which is really nice to see that we can bring people together.” Photo by Ms. Emma Hamoui.