Ocoee Middle FFA students hold ribbon cutting for land lab, barn

A project that has been years in the making is now a reality for agriculture students and FFA members at Ocoee Middle School.

On Wednesday, March 4, the school’s FFA members unraveled a blue satin ribbon and stood proudly in front of the barn that now stands in their land lab. They were joined by agriculture teacher and FFA adviser Karin Vorheis; Principal Samuel Davis; parents; school staff members; and Mike Armbruster, associate superintendent of Orange County Public Schools Career and Technical Education.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked a milestone for the FFA land lab and symbolized a fulfilled promise made by educators and members of the community.

“Honestly, this is for you, the students, and that’s what it’s all about. I believe in my heart that FFA is the premier student organization — and we’ve got some amazing organizations — but it’s the largest, it’s the oldest, and it’s the most structured and organized in such a way to teach leadership.” — Mike Armbruster

Past plans for the land lab didn’t work out as envisioned. In fact, Vorheis said, former Ocoee Middle agriculture teacher Amy Anderson originally was given property off Hackney Prairie Road for the lab.

“When the current school building was built, there was not an area for a land lab,” Vorheis said. “Once Prairie Lake Elementary was built, we had to take the land lab down and move it over to West Orange High School. I say we, as my sons were in FFA at the time, and we spent many hours tearing down and building back up our lab.”

Eventually, space became available on Ocoee Middle’s campus and allowed plans for housing animals there to begin. Anderson worked to get things off the ground to make the land lab a reality, Vorheis said.

When Vorheis came aboard to teach agriculture in 2016, she took the baton and kept moving forward with both the barn design and surveying the land. In July, the barn was raised, and water and plumbing installed. 

“Currently, we are able to house our heifer, the goose, chickens and rabbits,” she said. “We are working with a local scout with his Eagle Project to install rain gutters off the barn for the garden beds, as well as some foldable tables for an outdoor classroom. We have other projects we will need to complete, including a wash rack, scale area with a concrete slab and new scale, duck water area, chicken coops and rabbit hutches — all under our beautiful barn roof.”

Each Friday, Vorheis said, students participate in “Farm Fridays” and work to keep the farm maintained and in good shape. They hope to begin their gardens soon and have been starting plants from seeds inside the classroom.

OCPS Career and Technical Education was an instrumental partner in bringing the land lab’s barn to fruition, as well, having provided much of the funding to get it off the ground. Armbruster said CTE made the commitment to the barn four to five years ago, and although it took some time to get things moving, it was worth the wait.

“Honestly, this is for you, the students, and that’s what it’s all about,” Armbruster said. “I believe in my heart that FFA is the premier student organization — and we’ve got some amazing organizations — but it’s the largest, it’s the oldest, and it’s the most structured and organized in such a way to teach leadership. That’s really what FFA is all about, is leadership and learning to be strong. They happen to use agriculture as the mechanism, but what they teach you all is how to be leaders. … We’re excited to finally have the barn and to be a part of it, so CTE for OCPS is proud to be here today.”

Davis said the barn installation has been on the school’s radar since former principal Dr. Mark Shanoff’s tenure. He hopes the land lab and agriculture program as a whole further enrich the middle school experience for each student in the program.

“One of the things that we really strive toward — it’s our main goal here at Ocoee Middle School — is having a dynamic and positive middle school experience for every one of you guys,” Davis said. “This is the dynamic part. This is where you and other students over the years get to be involved with something that really interests them. Our hope is that it rounds our your middle school experience so you’re not just doing one thing academically, but you’ll actually excel academically because you’re able to be involved in all these other things. That’s our goal here, and I think this is a big part of that.”