The Superior Express -

Lawrence-Nelson High School received a $2,000 grant to purchase supplies to remodel the greenhouse into a poultry lab for FFA students. The grant was provided through FCSAmerica’s Working Here Fund.

The Working Here Fund Grant will help the development center create outdoor programs to teach youth about basic planting and gardening concepts.

“Our students learn well through hands-on learning,” said Kylie Kinley, advisor. “The poultry lab provides various learning opportunities as well as the responsibility for caring for live animals.”

The materials will be purchased immediately, and students will oversee progress from incubation of eggs to showcase at the FFA banquet at the end of the academic school year.

“This is going to be a wonderful opportunity for us to grow as a chapter and get our students more involved,” said Bailey Ceder, 2023-2024 Lawrence-Nelson FFA president. “I look forward to raising our own chickens and becoming more successful in poultry judging and other FFA contests.”

“We appreciate ag education for youth at every stage. Some of those students could be tomorrow’s farmers and producers,” said Tami Campbell, regional vice president of retail operations at FCSAmerica’s Grand Island office.

Lawrence-Nelson FFA is one of 138 organizations to receive a Working Here Fund grant in the second quarter of 2023. FCSAmerica awarded $601,040 during the latest grant cycle ending June 30, 2023.

About Lawrence-Nelson FFA: Lawrence-Nelson FFA provides classroom instruction, supervised agricultural experience projects, and FFA opportunities for 52 students grades 7 through 12 (75 percent of the middle school and high school is enrolled in FFA). This past year, 100 percent of the chapter competed in at least one FFA contest, and the members want to build on this hands-on enthusiasm by building a hands-on animal lab.