Another year is well underway at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture. It’s the nation’s only residential honors high school devoted entirely to ag. Ty Morton is the student body president from nearby McCormick. He says at the Governor’s School, you never know what to expect.

“Working in the greenhouse, we got the hort classes and out there on the farm with the cows and the goats and the pigs, building fence. I mean, it’s every day. It’s something that is never you wake up every day. You always doing something. You never know what you’re going to be doing in class that day. One day you might be sitting in class work, learning about anatomy. Next day you might be outside chasing cows down the road. You just never know.”

For example, Kaitlin Rhodes teaches Intro to Horticulture and Advanced Greenhouse and Landscape Technology, but next semester, it’ll be Turfgrass Management and Floriculture.

“We get to dive into different areas and different parts of the horticulture industry as a whole. And I think that’s a good representation of how we can diversify each of our programs and diversify each of our kids. They get a well-rounded education, not only in the greenhouse, but we get a well diversified education in landscaping and in floral design and in marketing and communication and working on those career skills that they’ll need as well.”

Rhodes has several students experimenting with hydroponics. Brayden Morris is in her first year at the school. She comes from urban West Columbia, South Carolina, with little prior ag experience, but she’s now growing tomato plants.

“I am going to test each variable, variable of hydroponics, such as changing the pH levels, adding nutrients, how often I change the water, to see which tomato grows the most fruit, the heaviest fruit, the tallest, and just what produces the best.”

The classes build a foundational knowledge in a broad range of ag, something senior Bella Tench is grateful for.

“If you didn’t have any ag background, I feel like these teachers and these people here will introduce you to the ag background they can we have. You know, we have horses, goats, cows. We have everything here. We have the horticulture side of everything, if they want to get to that side of it. So it’s like, it introduces you to everything. And that’s the really great thing about coming here. If you don’t have that ag background, you can get that background coming here.”

Students may be the best salesman the school has.

“I feel like this is probably the best experience for a farm kid, you know, and kids not even off the phone. I mean, it’s a good experience for you to get out there and get to know different people. I’ve met so many people through your school. I mean, it’s crazy, like I would I wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world.”

Applications are open now at delahowe.sc.gov.

Caption: This barn at the SC Governor’s School for Agriculture dates to the 1930’s and is now used for cultural events and gatherings. Photo credit Mike Davis/SFN.