SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Enrichment Grant Supports Innovative Ray Farm to School Program | Community

In fall 2021, Ray Unified School District gave me the opportunity to build a gardening and sustainability program at an unused campus location. I was able to serve about 40 to 50 students through classes in the Ray Learning Garden that taught practical applications of soil and water conservation, life skills and gardening. SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has been helping us meet our financial needs ever since, including a $5,000 grant this past spring.

We have just completed our first semester with junior high students fully immersed in project-based learning in the context of agriculture. In December 2024, we piloted a program with 25 students in which students would learn math, science, English and social studies with direct instruction and daily opportunities to apply what they learn as they build and maintain gardens, care for farm animals, support nature, conserve soil and water and learn valuable life skills. Students were selected for the pilot program based on interest, with roughly half of our students choosing to enter the ‘farm school.’ We could immediately see the benefits in the attitudes and interest of our students. Parents remarked that their students were excited and talked about what they had done at school each day.

In March 2025, Ray District opted to include the rest of our junior high students in the Farm to School Program, because the results were so positive, and the needs of our remaining students were great. We didn’t want to leave anyone out!

In terms of academics, our students are receiving both direct and indirect instruction. Direct instruction includes teacher led instruction, online tutoring geared to individual needs and AI instruction that is very specific to individual gaps in learning. Students receive indirect instruction as they practice skills learned in math and science both in online platforms, but also in real-life settings.

Outside of academics, students have opportunities to learn life skills in a variety of areas, including cooking, personal finance, animal care, growing food, etc. For example, we hatched chicks and students were tasked with caring for these chicks until they were old enough to be sent to farms elsewhere. In the process, they learned about chicken life cycles, being responsible for the daily needs of animals and even the need to find ways to protect our animals from predators.

The program’s success has led us to plan for future growth, including:

• The inclusion of sixth to eighth graders, along with a few high school student—a total of more than 60 students.
• The design and building of a greenhouse and barn structure, with the collaboration of the Ray Industrial Technology program.
• Accommodation of a veterinary tech program for high school students.
• Provision of corrals and pens to support local 4-H projects.
• A poultry and egg business, utilizing innovative rotational grazing with other livestock, that will bring income and teach students about running a business.

We greatly appreciate the financial support of SaddleBrooke Community Outreach that enables Ray School District to offer our students engaging, innovative ways to learn valuable academic and life skills.