By Lindsay James and Joseph Jackson
Nestled in the heart of the Hillsboro R-3 school district, Bridle Ridge Acres is home to a unique learning opportunity for local students. The farm is much more than just a place for the Hillsboro Agriculture Program to house its animals – it has become a refuge for students to connect with nature and learn life skills outside of a concrete classroom.
MSTA member and Hillsboro High School teacher, Jessika Jacaty, serves as facilitator at Bridle Ridge. Her dreams for the farm have been deeply rooted in education since it was sold to the district in 2019.
“Around the time the district decided to purchase the farm, it was decided that we would make our agriculture program official,” Jacaty said. “So, we filled out all the paperwork with DESE and we now have our Agricultural CTE class that is housed here at the farm, which has become our agricultural campus.”
On the farm sits a renovated barn with a classroom, restrooms and ample space to house animals. Other features include a pond, chicken coop, outdoor animal housing and storage for tractors. A variety of species call the property home including fainting goats, lambs, chickens, rabbits, miniature horses and two zebus – many of which were donated to the district by local sources. George, a young grey barn cat, came to the farm under unique circumstances when he was thrown at a maintenance worker from a moving vehicle.
The land is also utilized for field trips, cross country meets, summer school classes, homecoming, a fall festival and holiday events. High school students make the short trek down the street to the farm during designated class hours each day. Class sections rotate between working on material in the classroom and tending to responsibility with the animals.
“When I arrive in the mornings, I go through and open up the barn to make sure all the animals did okay overnight,” Jacaty said. “Then the first hour kids start coming in around 7:30, and they know their routines because we spend a lot of time on orientation. Everyone knows which animals to go get out and who to move from point A to point B.”
Daily tasks include feeding and exercising animals, maintaining cleanliness of the grounds and tending to any issues that may arise – such as chasing down a runaway chicken or repairing fencing after storms. While students are well-prepared to care for all animals, many develop special bonds with a few of the farm’s residents.
“We all have something that we prefer to do, but we all have the ability to do anything we want,” student Kailey Stark said. “I like working with the cows and horses the most. Sheldon the miniature horse and I have a special little bond where he’ll lick me every time I come up to him.”
Senior Haley Worth completed both Agriculture I and II classes before returning to Bridle Ridge as a teaching aide this school year.
“I should be in Agriculture III this year, but it didn’t work out with my schedule so I became a teaching aide to still help out – but mostly to hang out with George,” Worth said. “Last year, I got eggs and locked up the chickens every day. I also watered the goats and swept out the barn stalls a lot.”
While she doesn’t foresee a future for herself in the agricultural field, Worth found her time at the farm beneficial in other ways.
“I didn’t know anything about agriculture,” she said. “I joined the class on a whim sophomore year and ended up really liking it. You don’t have to have grown up around animals to be in the class. A lot of my classmates did grow up around farming, but it’s easy to adapt for those who didn’t.”
Similarly, senior Nathaniel Sloss did not come from an agricultural background but has been involved with the program for several years.
“I’m a pretty good student, but I felt like I could apply myself better out here on the farm than sitting at a desk the whole day,” he said. “In my first hour Agriculture III class, I tend to the chickens and make sure they’re cool pretty much every day. Then I come back for sixth hour and have more of a helper and supervisor role.”
Sloss doesn’t intend to work in agriculture beyond graduation but will carry the communication and physical labor skills with him throughout life.
“Even learning more about gardening and lawn care has been beneficial to my skillset,” Sloss said. “We also learned how to give vaccines and handle different types of medication for the animals – especially if it’s a medicine that’s not for a specific animal. I’ve had to measure out medicine in different doses for a cow, in comparison to a smaller dosage for a goat.”
These tasks provide opportunity for practical hands-on learning that isn’t available in most classroom settings. Jacaty finds this to be a fulfilling benefit of her work.
“We try to give students as different of a learning experience that we can,” she said. “Some of this is really intimidating – not every student would go up to a 300 lb. bull to clip a lead rope on and take it for a walk. This program is confidence-building and what we do is so much more than teaching a skill.”
Jacaty has seen students who once would shy away from new experiences blossom into empowered individuals who can stand on their own two feet in the face of adversity. The structure of the class allows students to control the outcome of their grades based on how much effort they put into each task.
“What we’re really looking for is if they’ll be able to walk out of this barn and go do something in life that they couldn’t before,” Jacaty said. “It’s also a stress-relieving time for many students. Being with animals is therapeutic in many ways. I’ve seen kids who every day before they leave, they have to go tell the horses goodbye and that’s what gets them through the rest of their day.”
Goal setting and accountability is fundamental at Bridle Ridge, with students required to write about what they hope to accomplish in the course.
“The goals don’t have to be complex or labor-driven. I saw a student write ‘My goal is to form a relationship with an animal so I can form a relationship with a human’ and that’s what it’s all about here,” Jacaty said.
This is what lets her know that her role is important and that she’s there to do more than just teach.
“It’s an uphill battle and it’s a lot of work,” Jacaty said. “It’s really easy to feel defeated by things, but as teachers we have to try not to – because when I come out here and see the end result of the hours upon hours of work that went into this place by the district and its leaders, it’s all 100 percent worth it.”
