The Wilder School District celebrated the grand opening of its new agricultural building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.
The new facility was made possible through a grant from the Idaho Career Ready Students Program, which is facilitated by the Idaho Department of Education.
“I’m excited to get more opportunities for our students here in Wilder to prepare them for different career fields after high school,” said Kala Hernandez, who teaches agriculture at Wilder High School.
If the facility does create opportunities for students it would be a working example of the Idaho Career Ready program’s stated goal: to increase the capacity of Career Technical Education in Idaho middle and high schools by incentivizing districts to create programs that prepare students to meet local and regional industry and workforce needs.
“Wilder’s rural setting and agricultural focus make it an excellent candidate (for the program),” said Laura Shoemaker, communications director for the Wilder School District. “This investment will allow students to gain practical skills relevant to local industries such as farming and agribusiness.”
The building will be used by Wilder’s middle and high school students. Middle school students will be given the opportunity to build a pathway forward once they reach high school. High school students will use the facility for ag sciences and as a base camp for the Wilder Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter.
The facility will also allow Wilder to offer a broader range of class offerings. New potential classes include welding, woodworking, plumbing, animal sciences and horticulture.
Jeff Dillon, the superintendent of the Wilder School District, was on hand at the ceremony to thank several supporters who made the new facility a reality.
“Contractors gave up a lot,” Dillon said. “They are trying to feed their families, and they made sure we could build this building for our community and kids. We truly appreciate it.”
A few of those supporters were singled out at the event: Chris Gross from Gross Farms, Robert Roberts from R&M Steel and Mike and Julie McGarvin.
