Community members watched as Christine Ready, an agricultural science teacher at Nipomo High School, poured acetic acid into a glass flask containing sodium bicarbonate. The ingredients—more commonly referred to as vinegar and baking soda—combined to create carbon dioxide, a gas that Ready said can smother flames.
“It’s actually the same principle used in fire extinguishers,” Ready said as she held the tip of the flask close to a candle’s burning flame, which suddenly flickered out.
Onlookers “oohed” and “ahed” during the experiment, repeating the general reaction to Nipomo High’s newest addition, Ag Island, a series of recently completed Career Technical Education classrooms that community members were able to see for the first time at an open house on March 19. The event, which included a ribbon cutting ceremony and student-led tours, gave ag students and faculty a chance to show off their new, state-of-the-art classrooms and equipment.
“I’m really excited,” Angela Bowles, a junior at Nipomo High School, said in an interview with the Sun. “The old facilities weren’t exactly up to scientific standards.”
Nipomo High’s agricultural program was, and still is, largely conducted in portable classrooms, which Bowles said lack sinks and other proper safety equipment usually present in science classrooms.
Ag Island, by contrast, is made up of four classrooms that add up to 8,000 square feet in total. The ornamental horticulture, animal science, and agriscience classrooms were each outfitted with nearly identical features—a whiteboard and projector at the front, cupboards and sinks lining the walls, and rows of long tables and stools. The ag mechanics building, which will be used for welding and fabricating, looks more like a shop than a classroom, with a visible ventilation system and smooth concrete floors.
Bowles, who helped conduct experiments in the new agriscience classroom during tours on March 19, is highly involved in the school’s ag program. She serves as vice president of the Nipomo Future Farmers of America and said she’s looking forward to using Ag Island later this school year and next.
Students and faculty are expected to be fully moved into Ag Island by April 9, according to Andy Stenson, assistant superintendent of business for Lucia Mar Unified School District. The portable classrooms will be vacated during that process and used for temporary housing during other Nipomo High construction projects, according to the district.
Ag Island cost $3.3 million to build and was funded by Bond Measure I. Construction on the project started in June 2017.
The new buildings will benefit nearly 40 percent of Nipomo High School students, according to Principal John Denno, who said that many students participate in the school’s ag program or Future Farmers of America. The highly popular ag program is one of the top 10 in California, he said, and it helps prepare students for college and future careers.
“We want to make sure that each student’s high school experience includes exploring careers while also ensuring all options, specifically post secondary education, remain viable,” Denno said to attendees. “I’m confident that these Career Technical Education facilities and our ag program will not only continue this work, but they will improve upon it.”
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash writes School Scene each week. Information can be sent to the Sun via mail, fax, or email at mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2018.