JONES COUNTY, Ga. — A Central Georgia high school has added a new barn to their campus for their Future Farmers of America (FFA) students.
Jones County High students now have a safe place to care after their dairy and beef livestock.
Seniors Jordan Thornton and Katie Ayers joined FFA in ninth grade.
"It had a lot of influence on my life and so I decided to give it a shot, and really had a good time doing this throughout the four years in high school," Thornton said.
"FFA has really changed my life because in ninth grade I was super shy, I didn't talk to anybody, barely had any friends, wouldn't even order for myself at restaurants and now I'm president of FFA," Ayers said.
FFA Advisor Callie Lankford and Laura Rackley, the director of career programs, say it was time for a new barn after the old one had been there for around 30 years.
"The barn was part of our college and career academy initiative. In addition to some of the facilities we built in the front of campus, we knew that some additions needed to be made to our animal science program," Rackley said.
"We've grown from five students in this program to 14 students just in a couple of years in the beef and dairy programs that are able to utilize this new facility," Lankford said.
The barn took about a year to complete. It has more stalls, better feeding and washing equipment, a pasture, and their own arena.
"It allows us to host our own show here where the county commission, the board of education and really important people in our community can come and watch and see what we're all about," Ayers said.
"You know when you get one like this, it opens a lot of eyes in the community, a lot of kids they have something to be proud of," Thornton said.
School leaders hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday evening to officially celebrate its opening.
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED SCHOOLS