High school is like a mold for students’ future careers. From Psychology, to Patient Care, to Anatomy and Physiology, or AG Mechanics, Arroyo Grande High School provides many hands-on courses to help students decide career paths.
Arroyo Grande High School’s Agriculture classes have been filled with more students over the past 3 years. At the start of the 2025 fall semester, the Ag mechanics class taught by Josh Rodrigues was completely filled.
“Our Ag program definitely needs to be more hands-on which requires funds, next year they’re adding animal science which we hope to spike students attention with that class, and also adding an Ag leadership class,” Lacee Holloway said.
Ag chemistry and Advanced Sustainable Agriculture teacher Lacee Holloway, who is also in charge of the Ag leadership program, has seen significant student interest in Ag classes.
“There was an incline of students who wanted to join Ag that the school almost needed a whole other teacher,” Holloway said.
Promotion of the Ag department is very important to get students interested. The Ag-tivities in the AG department consist of fun games and food that roll in students’ attention.
Greenhand week is a FFA tradition that welcomes new members that involve spirit days and fun activities to introduce students to what FFA is.
“[Future Farmers of America] helps create awareness of what’s going on in California agriculture, not just in our program. FFA is important for building connections towards their future, becoming better leaders and connecting with different students at all the different high school campuses,” Holloway said.
Arroyo Grande High’s FFA team has had many new members who have helped promote Ag at our school.
“I think the fact that we get to show at our county fair, is what makes the experience more fun and interesting. When we compete against others for a ribbon or a banner I think that makes us work harder in the way our animal looks and our showmanship skills,” Alyssa Figeroua-FFA member (‘26) said.
School activities like FFA have made students more interested in joining the Ag industry and learning more about what Ag really is. Many confuse Ag with just cows and plows but there is so much more to it than that. There’s marketing, technology, mechanics, business, and so much more.
“In fall 2025 there were 6,880 freshmen and 754 transfers who applied to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. We are the fifth largest college of agriculture in the U.S.,” Director of Communications of College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science at Cal Poly SLO AnnMarie Cornejo said.
The growth for students going into the Ag path is excessively multiplying each school year. Due to the wide variety of different paths one can go into in the Agricultural industry, the jobs are almost endless.
“Again, and again those students talk about all of the hands-on opportunities they have in their classes. From learning how to do an ultrasound on a horse to studying the soil samples in the laboratory, students are getting direct exposure to the subjects they are studying,” Cornejo said.
The interest in Agriculture continues to grow with so many majors for students to choose from, including Wine and Viticulture, Animal Science, Food Science, Ag Science and so much more.
