I have the honor to serve on the Advisor Board for the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on the south side of the city. This is one of those experiences that is really hard to describe to others. It is kind of like being asked to tell someone about the Grand Canyon in 100 words. You almost have to see it to believe it. Just off of West 111th street is a 40 acre campus that is home to a high school that is totally devoted to the pursuit of agricultural knowledge. Basically, students have all of the same subjects to cover but many of them take on a agricultural shadowing and the electives are all agricultural based. From mechanical technology to bio/animal science to golf course construction and management these 600 students get to learn by doing in a 40 acre classroom. At today's meeting the FFA chapter reported on their summer internships at places like Quaker Oats, Pepsi, Wright College and the Universities of Illinois and Purdue. One of the board members is the head of the University of Illinois' College of ACES (Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) said that the kids who did the internships in their labs were on academic par with what one would expect from graduate students. The level of confidence, articulation and pose that these young people have is just amazing.
The other highlight was getting to meet Alexander Gbayee, the Consulate General for the country of Liberia. He was visiting the school because the Liberian government is looking to develop hands on, teaching high schools that will be modeled after the work done at CHAS.
