The Highland Agriculture program will be updating its welding equipment this semester.

The agriculture program, which is in its first year, recently received a $5,000 grant from Farm Credit Services of America. Instructor Duane Van Winkle describes how this will benefit Highland, “We’re really looking to improve some shop facilities and in particular the welding area for classes that I will teach there with welding. We really didn’t have much in the way of booths or a proper ventilation system so the $5,000 will certainly help considerably in that. It’s probably not enough to cover everything, but it’s a good start.”

Highland continues to grow its agriculture program with the hiring of an additional instructor for the next school year. Van Winkle says he’s excited to provide more learning opportunities for students, including using school land to grow and market crops.