Career skills are taught in the Schuyler Central High School Plant Science class. Casey Harper, Agricultural teacher, has a total of twenty-nine students in his Plant Science class. Mr. Harper teaches his students a new plant everyday so a total of sixty plants in a semester. Students also get the opportunity to learn about how plants support us. “Students get to explore careers that are related to the plant systems pathway,” during their time in class, explained Mr. Harper. Mr. Harper isn’t the only adult in the Plant Science class, Erin Trotter is also involved. Mrs. Trotter went to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and has a Bachelor’s degree Horticulture with an emphasis in Landscape Design. Mrs. Trotter is the Greenhouse, Grounds, and Field House Director for Schuyler Community Schools. “Lots of different career opportunities and chances to work with a professional that holds many different job titles (Mrs.Trotter)” are some of the benefits the students get, according to Mr. Harper. Students also get the opportunity to go outside and pull weeds or plant flowers which involves getting your hands dirty. They get to walk around the school building to identify the different types of trees around the school building. Plant Science “is something different everyday and that is what I like about it,” shared Mr. Harper.

“The eastern cottonwood is my favorite plant,” commented Talon Andel, a sophomore at SCHS who is taking the Plant Science class. One thing Talon enjoys about Plant Science class is learning about the anatomy of animals and what all the different types of cuts of an animal are there. Another thing Talon enjoys is that Mr. Harper and Mrs. Trotter make sure that the class is entertaining everyday and it is not a worksheet like some classes. One benefit that Talon says he has is “I might butcher animals in the future so I will have to know about how to butcher animals.” Throughout the semester Talon has had different feelings toward the class. “I thought it was going to be a boring class until I started getting active in the class, then it was fun,” shared Talon.