New Prairie Ag center opens to growing 200-student program

CEDAR RAPIDS — The new Prairie Ag center in the College Community School District “puts you in the mood to learn,” said Perry Eason, 15, a sophomore at Prairie High School.

Eason, who works for a landscaping company — building retaining walls and doing lawn care — and helps out a farmer in Atkins during harvesting season, enrolled in Introduction to Agriculture to learn about careers he might be interested in pursuing after high school and to gain meaningful experience.

Students stepped into the new 6,400-square-foot Prairie Ag building for class for the first time last month. The center has a classroom, kitchen, greenhouse, restrooms and a storm shelter.

Two existing barns on the district-owned property are expected to house animals someday — hopefully starting with chickens this school year. The $3.2 million project was funded by the one-cent sales tax.

The Prairie Ag center sits on 176 acres of land directly north of Prairie High School that’s owned by the College Community School District. As the district continues to grow, new schools will eventually be built on the acres not being used by the agriculture program, Superintendent Doug Wheeler said.

Students have already been growing pumpkins on the property for the last couple years. They are sold as a fundraiser for the program. The pumpkin patch grew from two-and-a-half acres last year to seven acres this year. Pumpkins will be available in mid-September.

In the greenhouse, students will start by growing lettuce and herbs in a variety of ways. This includes traditional dirt, a hydroponic garden system where plants grow in water, and an aquaponics system where fish waste provides plants with nutrients needed for growth.

A pedestrian tunnel under 76th Avenue SW connects the Prairie Ag center to the rest of the high school’s campus.

Program inspires careers, produces ‘informed consumers’

This is the third year of the district’s agriculture program and first National FFA Organization chapter, which launched during the 2020-21 school year. Will Vlasek, 17, a senior at Prairie High joined the National FFA Organization because he was “extremely shy” and knew it would help him learn speaking and leadership skills, he said.

Last week Vlasek got to speak with freshmen students about the agriculture program. “I’ve never seen that level of excitement about school ever,” he said.

Because of his experience in the Prairie agriculture program, Vlasek said he will go to Iowa State University after graduation to study agriculture engineering. He will learn how to farm in more efficient and environmentally-friendly ways for a growing global community, he said.

The idea for the agriculture program started with a question from a parent: Why doesn’t Prairie have an agriculture program? Already, more than 200 students in ninth to twelfth-grade are enrolled.

The program is serving as a model for future career academies planned for the district in the next few years, including nursing, education and a culinary program, Wheeler said.

Laura Brecht, Prairie agriculture teacher who is new to the district this year, said she is excited about the opportunities the Prairie Ag center and program provides to students.

“One of my goals is to connect our students with potential career opportunities locally,” Brecht said.

About 30 percent of the local economy served by the College Community School District is tied to agriculture in some way, Wheeler said.

Even if students don’t graduate from Prairie High interested in a career in agriculture, Brecht wants them to walk away as an “informed consumer.”

“Every single student is going to purchase food, clothing and energy, and I want them to make informed decisions that best meet their needs. Hopefully, they gain some other life skills along the way,” Brecht said.

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