New goats at high school create new learning opportunities
Billy and Nugget have brought curiosity and excitement to teacher Shanna Abatti’s agriculture classes at Southwest High School.
Billy and Nugget are baby goats that arrived at the school on Aug.
16. They are expected to help students attain new learning opportunities and experiences.
The goats will be used to be both interactive and more active in the classroom. This project will lead students into potential agricultural careers and teach students responsibility.
“They’re great educational tools that provide hands- on learning opportunities,” Abatti said.
Sophomore Michelle Flores, 14, is among the students participating in the project. She helps out with the goats because it’s something interactive that really interests her. Even though she does not have any experience with livestock, she said she loves having goats on campus and thinks it will definitely be an interactive way of learning.
“I love the fact that there’s goats on campus. It’s such a unique experience to be involved in,” Flores said.
Sophomore Isabella Romo, 15, said she volunteered to help out with this project since she wants to learn more about goats and gain experience as well. Some difficulties Romo and her classmates will face that will help gain experience is being more strict as fair time rolls around. This teaches discipline and responsibility to both students and animals.
“Getting them more into a strict kind of schedule because they kind of do whatever they want. They’re free now. Once they get into show, it’ll be stricter,” Romo said.
Freshman Annika Mitosinka, 14, thinks this project will require a lot of time and effort. This will be beneficial for her since she wants to learn more about large animals. She is interested in their growth process and “seeing how their production comes out.”
Production is how the goats mature, how they behave when handled, and how they brace to be presented to the judges when they are shown.
Freshman Benjamin Gonzalez Jr., 14, wanted to be involved with this new project. He said this is something that will seem a bit harder for him as he has never done something like this before. Although he’s never done this before, he will still be active and help out with the goats, he said.
Freshman Oliver Popejoy, 14, knows his way around goats and already has several years of experience. Knowing that they do require more work, he said he continues to love them.
“They’re pretty hard if they’re not well conditioned,” Popejoy said. “Like many goats, they don’t listen, very stubborn.”
The goat project is something different that is offered at Southwest High School through taking an agricultural class. The goats will show students what it’s like to have interaction with the animals during class. The money made through raising the goats will go to future animal projects.
“We’ll raise them to when they’re market ready and sell them to keep the project going next year,” Abbatti said. “Our hope is that students and administration find value in educational components and the immense amount of educational opportunities.”