'A symbol of hope and excitement'

May 18—A new era for Wheatland Union High School began Monday as a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the school for a new agriculture science building that officials said will provide a sense of pride and joy for the community.

Funded in part by a large grant, this more than $6 million facility will give students and FFA members the space to complete labs in the classroom, have a dedicated space for agriculture-related science, an outdoor garden, and an amphitheater.

Most importantly, it will give students the unique opportunity to explore new and different career paths.

"Benjamin Franklin once said, 'Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.' This project started with a vision and ended in a $6 million grant. It was a vision to build a 21st century learning space for our students to gain the skills needed to be college and career ready," Wheatland Union High School District Superintendent Nicole Newman said Monday. "... It's gonna be a building that expresses and defines who Wheatland High School is. A building in 25 years from today will remain special and remain the envy of schools in our surrounding area. Our ag classroom will be state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly and one of the unique features of this building will be the outdoor classroom space and the amphitheater for class meetings and FFA meetings."

Slated to be completed as soon as January 2023, the new building will offer a fresh experience to ag students.

"After I got the job and started walking around, I quickly realized that there was a lot of things that needed to be taken care of to make a safe learning environment for our kids, to foster their social-emotional growth and well-being," Newman said. "... They're gonna be able to be in their classrooms, doing labs on a daily basis instead of having to share. They're making them ready for when they leave us."

Currently, agriculture-related classes are spread out among normal classrooms with one bio lab that is shared between four teachers, Newman said.

"It's state-of-the-art. These labs were built in the 60s," Newman said. "We did modernize them, but you can only put so much lipstick on a pig. The work we did in the buildings was to modernize them and they look great, but they're still not what we're going to have here."

She said with the new ag science building, there will be opportunities for students to study aquaponics and implement a "farm-to-fork" program at the school that will include items grown by the students.

Newman said she wasn't "overly optimistic" work on the building would be done by January, but wants to get students in as soon as possible.

"I think they've been here long enough to know that I'm gonna do things that's best for kids, that makes this place look good, it's a place they're proud of," Newman said. "And we've done that. Just adding new buildings like this just only helps student morale."

Carol Keiser, director of career technical education, innovation and instructional technology at Wheatland Union High School, said the new building will better prepare students for the future.

"Wheatland Union High School District is committed to help every student achieve the life they want to live. Many of our students will want to go on to college after high school and we are committed to help them achieve that," Keiser said. "All of our students will pursue a career after high school. Wheatland Union High School District is committed to offering our students the 21st century skills that they need for success and to hopefully one day come back to contribute to the Wheatland community."

Keiser said an "amazing team" of agriculture teachers will bring "life and excitement" to the new ag science building.

"This ag science building is a symbol of hope and excitement for our community and for each student as they pursue their dreams and goals, acquiring the high-quality employable skills and valuable knowledge on their journey to creating that life that they want to live," she said. "Thank you for the encouragement and the support that you've given these students and this team of teachers."

Matthew Brockhoff, a senior at Wheatland Union High School, said having the ag science building will allow the Wheatland FFA chapter to further improve.

"As an ag student this new building holds a lot of promise. As the school grows, it's great to see more and more opportunities to be presented for the next generation of ag students," Brockhoff said. "Our FFA chapter has recently been revived ... and this building is a huge step to continuing to build a great chapter. As a senior, I am extremely envious of the new experiences students will have exploring their career technical education. This building is a landmark for ag education and a wonderful new addition to campus."

Tony Lopez, president of the Wheatland Union High School Board of Trustees, said having the new facility will further the board's mission.

"Five years ago, the board really wanted to focus on becoming better for the community. I keep using the term 'destination of choice.' I think this is really what this high school is," Lopez said. "Over the last five years with the help of Superintendent Newman and her team, I think we've made significant progress. ... Most of our efforts have been around modernization and this is a huge catalyst I think for the coming years. (I'm) real excited to see what's going to happen in the future."