Proposition C of the district’s bond election passed with a 58.75% vote on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2023. This proposition includes the North County/District Livestock Facility which will serve as the CTE Agriculture Barn for the school and Conroe High School.
“With how gentrified our area is becoming and with all the little new neighborhoods that are popping up, I feel that this Ag Barn for the younger generations of our school is going to help out a whole lot,” sophomore and Vice President of FFA Preslin Rutherford said.
The school and Conroe High School happen to be the only two schools in the district without an Agricultural Barn for its FFA chapter. This addition to the FFA chapter would make resources like feeding animals more accessible and convenient for the students who show animals.
“It’ll definitely help with a sense of community,” Rutherford said. “I remember I went and helped some kids at Willis who show pigs at their Ag barn, helping teach a class and I was talking to them saying, ‘This (the ag barn) is so cool’, like I’ll be able to go to the Ag barn and then go straight to class.”
The New North County/District Livestock Facility will solve one of the biggest issues for the members of FFA at our school, which is having space to raise and tend to their animals for showings.
“I believe the success of the program will grow great amounts due to the new ag barn because it will help those who don’t have the room for animals on their property, to have somewhere to house the animals,” Jones said. “There are tons of kids who want to show an animal but have nowhere to keep it.”
As of now, the district plans to build the barn at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds. According to the district’s Executive Director of Communications Sarah Blakelock, construction schedules will be shared during upcoming school board meetings and workshops.
The location of the barn is alarming because it is around 30 minutes away from the school. This can cause a problem in getting to school on time and transportation to and from the barn.
“Students will have to wake up even earlier in the morning to go and feed (the animals) so that they can make it back to the school by first period,” senior and President of FFA Kylie Jones. “The second problem could be if the barn becomes too full since we are sharing with another school.”
Having an Ag barn can be a place where ideas and techniques are exchanged between the members and teachers. Rutherford believes that the experiences show kids could help out and mentor the newcomers or beginning members who are interested in showing.
“I’ve been showing for five, six years now and we (her and Riden) now have the knowledge about what we’re doing,” Rutherford said. “Especially for those kids who like this in their first year showing it’s much easier to have an ag teacher or kids who are more experienced to be there. It’s just an easier way to communicate and learn stuff.”
Members think the barn will allow them to become closer with Conroe’s FFA chapter as well. Riden and Rutherford also think that this will bring the people who show animals together more for their own chapter.
“Hopefully with this new barn and getting together (with other members), we can help them (newcomers) out more and meet new people from Conroe and bonding with them, instead of just only knowing people from our chapter,” Riden said.
“I feel like it’s really nice to have an Ag barn because that’s a place where all the show kids can meet up and work their animals together, hang out and have a good time,” Riden said.
