Lettuce Tell You about the KickstART Event

LETTUCE tell you what a great time students in the KickstART and Commercial Art shop had on Friday, November 18th — learning about social entrepreneurship and the future of agriculture at the Lawrence County Community Action Partnership (LCCAP) facility!

The focus of today's journey was to explore ways entrepreneurs can benefit their communities and the importance of social entrepreneurship in revitalizing an economy.

Students first got to see how the community organization, in just over 4 years, acquired and remodeled the old Youth Detention Center (YDC) into a multi-industrial community-based campus that, ultimately, benefits the citizens of Lawrence County.

Students then learned about sustainable farming practices in their agriculture and culinary arts building where students, in addition to enjoying the hot chocolate bar, learned about and assisted with the hydroponic produce farm housed in the facility.

Electrical Occupations student Elia McKnight was intrigued by learning about her industry's key role in hydroponic agriculture as the indoor growing facilities have many electrical lighting and water circulation needs, not to mention the average income of an indoor produce farmer is around $40-70 an hour.

After a very fun and engaging tour, the students left with another previously unknown asset in their community added to their list of local resources. With continued projected growth and our area's advantageous climate and low risk of natural disaster, Lawrence County and Pennsylvania are poised to become our nation's leader in modern indoor agriculture, and in the very near future, this part of the country needs the skilled trades to be the foundation for this projected growth!