By Paige Gurgainers
At Lakeside Jr./Sr. High School, learning doesn’t always happen behind a desk. Sometimes, it happens in a barn with a feed bucket in hand, muddy boots on your feet and an animal depending on you to show up every single day.
A new barn on the Lakeside campus is giving students involved in Future Farmers of America (FFA) an opportunity that some of them may not otherwise have… the chance to raise, care for and eventually show their own livestock.
Led by agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Josh Utley, the program is another example of Lakeside Jr./Sr. High School continuing to find new ways to give students hands-on experiences and opportunities to discover interests beyond the traditional classroom.
The idea behind the barn was simple: A student shouldn’t miss out on raising an animal simply because they don’t live on a farm or have the space and facilities available at home.
Now, they don’t have to.
Currently, a handful of students, Hallee Clayton, Dixie Miller and Henleigh Moore, are housing animals at the school barn, including goats, sheep and pigs. Other Lakeside FFA members, Syler Ellis and Sawyer Pitman, are raising their animals at home, but for those who need it, the new facility has opened a door that might have previously been closed.
And once that door opens, the learning begins.
Raising a show animal involves much more than putting out feed and water. Students are responsible for learning what their animals need nutritionally, keeping up with their daily care, exercising them, grooming them and preparing them for the show ring.
Utley said the experience has been a learning process for him as well. “While I am here to guide and support my students, much of the research into properly raising, caring for and showing the animals has been placed in the students’ hands and they have taken that responsibility seriously,” he said.
From researching the right feed to learning grooming techniques, exercise routines and even which treats their animals prefer, the students have become invested in the entire process. They are learning to seek out information, ask questions and make decisions based on what is best for the animal in their care.
Of course, it hasn’t taken long for the animals themselves to become some of the stars of the program.
Henleigh Moore is raising two pigs at the barn, and like any good caretaker, she has already learned a few of their favorite things. In the Louisiana summer heat, her pigs are especially fond of cooling down with an ice-cold popsicle.
Those small moments may be fun, but they are also evidence of just how well the students are getting to know the animals entrusted to them. Raising livestock means learning their habits, personalities and needs and spending enough time together that a bond naturally begins to form.
Then there is Crayon.
Crayon, one of the sheep being raised by a Lakeside FFA member, Hallee Clayton, has become something of a local personality himself, gaining popularity through the group’s TikTok account and giving followers a glimpse into the lighter side of life in the Lakeside barn.
But behind the funny videos, favorite treats and individual personalities is one of the more difficult realities of raising show animals.
When asked how students keep themselves from becoming attached to animals they know will eventually be shown and auctioned, Crayon’s owner didn’t pretend that part was easy.
“We do get attached. It is hard not to, but we know going into it that it is just part of it,” said Clayton.
It was a simple answer, but one that summed up just how much these students are learning through the experience.
For weeks and months, they invest their time and energy into these animals. They learn their personalities and routines. They celebrate progress and work through challenges. They make sure they are fed, exercised, groomed and cared for… even on the days when doing so may not be convenient.
Then, eventually, they have to let them go.
That experience is teaching students about agriculture, but it is also teaching them responsibility, dedication and the reality that caring for something means showing up consistently, even when parts of the process are difficult.
An animal doesn’t know that a student has homework, practice, plans with friends or somewhere else they would rather be. It still needs to be fed. It still needs water. It still needs exercise and attention. There are no days off from that kind of responsibility.
Through the program, students are gaining first hand experience in animal science and agriculture, but they are also learning patience, discipline, problem-solving, time management and accountability. They are seeing the direct connection between the effort they put in each day and the results they eventually see in the show ring.
For some, it could even be the beginning of a future career or a lifelong involvement in agriculture.
FFA has long been about much more than farming. The organization helps students develop leadership skills, confidence, career readiness and an understanding of the many industries connected to agriculture. Lakeside’s new barn adds another layer to those opportunities by giving students a place to put what they learn into practice.
Perhaps most importantly, it makes that opportunity more accessible.
“Not every student interested in agriculture grows up with acreage, fencing, livestock pens or a family farm,” said Utley. “By providing a space on campus, Lakeside is helping ensure a student’s circumstances at home do not have to determine whether he or she can participate.”
The barn may be new, and Utley and his students may still be learning together, but that is part of what makes the program special. The students aren’t simply watching someone else do the work… they are figuring it out, taking ownership and learning along the way.
There will be lessons about feed and grooming, exercise and showing. There will be mistakes, adjustments and plenty of questions. There will be funny TikTok moments with Crayon, popsicles shared with pigs on hot Louisiana afternoons and, eventually, some difficult goodbyes.
But through all of it, there will be students learning what it means to commit themselves to something and follow through.
For Lakeside Jr./Sr. High School, the barn represents something even bigger than livestock. It represents the school’s continued effort to create new opportunities for its students, meet them where they are and give them experiences that can help shape where they go next.
And for the students walking into that barn each day, some of the most important lessons of their school year may just be waiting on four legs.
