A STAR IS BORN
SHS Ag research center unveiled
STRATHMORE — What started as an idea of science, technology, and innovation in agriculture has come to fruition in Strathmore, said SHS Principal Andrew Peterson on Wednesday morning at the grand opening of the Strathmore Technical Agriculture Research Center at Strathmore High School.
The STAR Center prepares students in the plant and soil science pathway for postsecondary education, advanced training and employment in the current highly-technical field of agriculture.
The new indoor learning facility includes four new classrooms, two science labs, two central laboratory rooms — all equipped with industry aligned, state of the art equipment and technology, offering students hands-on learning, research opportunities and state of the art instruction in agriculture — focused on biological and physical sciences research. Strathmore High now has the outdoor learning stations, a greenhouse, misting house, crop box, an aquaponics unit and their farm store building.
“I have to say, this was not the Field of Dreams where we ‘Build it and they come. They were already here,” said Porterville Unified School District Board Member Lillian Durbin. “When Strathmore united with Porterville High School, they provided us with a long term, over a century now, legacy, of excellence in education and excellence in working with farm management and farming.”
And it wouldn’t have been possible without their willingness to join Porterville Unified’s efforts to provide equity and education for the students through everything they do.
“Because of that, this vision, this mission, this dream, has lived through three superintendents at Portervile schools, five
or more high school principals and their administrative staff, has lived through 14 or more board members coming and going and it has stayed alive and well all that time,” Durbin said. “And would not have been possible without the foundation that was built here.”
SHS alumnus Pete Lara, who’s also PUSD’S longestrunning, currently still serving board member also thanked and praised all those who helped make the laboratory a reality.
“And it is a laboratory, not a farm,” Lara said as he thanked the advisory board, the pathway office and numerous people in attendance.
“This project has had its challenges but persevered,” he said and offered a “shout out to former Superintendent Ken Gibbs for the vision of creating an opportunity for our students.”
When Strathmore joined Porterville, Lara said, Porterville made a commitment to the citizens of the community to create world-class educational opportunities for the community.
A local farmer with deep Strathmore roots who’s a Class of 1966 Alumnus, and former Tulare County Board of Supervisor — Allen Ishida, whose mother retired as a school teacher in Strathmore — also thanked the PUSD Board, administrators, and the Pathway program for the vision and said half of the advisory board are Strathmore graduates.
“It took a long time,” he said. “When I left in ’66, I had no idea we would have something like this in Strathmore. No one could realize in the whole district, at that point in time, what we have. This facility enhances our students with the opportunity to get more hands-on and the opportunity to see the emerging ag technology.”
With the construction of the building and all it brings, he said, it leads to opportunities to reach out of Tulare County to different providers to provide ag technology via Zoom.
“And it really gives us on the advisory board a lot more work to do to establish those industry partners,” Ishida said. “Those industry partners are working on things that we, at this point in time as farmers, we’re not envisualizing what they’re working on and I hope it gives our kids the ability to understand how things change. Our whole economy including agriculture and the technology that is happening is going to be their future.”
The morning included a couple of proclamations, and the tours of the facilities led by three SHS seniors – Job Bejarano, Macy Behrens and Victoria Munoz.
The three seniors led the group through the farm and pointed out to students in the distance working “in the dirt.”
“We are always out here. Not a day goes by that we are not out here working,” said Munoz. “Not one day.”
The three talked about ag marketing and selling their wares at their Farmer’s Market.
With “just over 12 acres” on the farm, Behrens pointed to a plot of land where during the summer the students grow corn, peppers and tomatoes. She also pointed out towards the citrus, saying it was the seniors’ project this year.
And at the end of the semester the seniors will present the project to the advisory board, Munoz said.
The animal facilities were also pointed out.
“Everybody is pretty excited about those,” said Behrens, and pointed out it was too muddy from the rains to walk over there. “But that’s super fun and everyone is pretty excited. We have six sheep out there right now and we are bringing in pigs today.”
“The shaded area we seen already,” Munoz said. “We plant over there and we transfer the plant over here.”
They talked of succulents and floral plants and mentioned one student was growing marigolds for the Day of the Dead event in early November.
In the aquaponics building, there were Bass and Blue gill fish in tall blue containers, as well as plants.
“We collect the fish waste. The only nutrients that the plants are using to grow are coming from the fish’s waste. So we take that and separate the solids and collect the nitrates and the nutrients and that’s what gets pumped to the water and the roots of the plant absorbs it,” Bejarano said. “Then the clean water is pumped back to the fish so that they can still breathe, because they can’t live in their own waste forever.”
The tour continued through the green house and the Cropbox — a controlled environment agriculture system that produces leafy crops year-round.
“The idea is that they are growing plants solely in water — not using any dirt nor natural sunlight,” Bejarano said. “They are wanting to control the exact temperatures, exact amount of light they are getting, and the exact nutrients. So it’s all done with chemicals and that’s how they balance the ph and give them the nutrients they need.
“The lights act as the sun. And by having them on day-round and nightround, the lights can allow plants to germinate and grow faster so they can be put out for sale quicker.”
All three students appeared to be proud of the Cropbox.
“One of my most favorite things about this is that we are actually one of the only high schools in the state of California that has one,” Behrens said.
Peterson, SHS Principal, agreed.
“These kids are really excited to be out here. This is an older school and we’ve done a lot to upgrade what we have but having a new facility, kids really are excited. I think they are proud to be out here. And have the opportunities. There’s a lot of enthusiasm.”
Ag students aren’t the only ones using the new buildings, he said. Students also go out there for science and math.
“I think there is a lot of pride and excitement about possibilities. This is really nice,” Peterson said.
The students deserve nice facilities and the school wants to make the facility available to them to learn and grow, he said.
“We have this building (which) is really focused on plant soil science and more on the research side,” Peterson said.
“Then we have some things that nobody else has like the Crop box and aquaponics. You don’t find this at other schools typically, not in this area anyway.”
So not only can students learn to drive a tractor and learn about things typically seen in agriculture, he said, but they can also, thanks to Porterville Unified’s investment in some of the cutting-edge of forward thinking, learn about aquaponics and the Cropbox and work with business partners to really help to tailor their program towards where agriculture is going.