Dunmore, Alta. (Rural Roots Canada) – After years of planning, work has begun on a new high school in southeast Alberta designed entirely around agriculture education.
The Yuill School of Agriculture, a program being developed by Prairie Rose Public Schools, will be built on 76 acres between Medicine Hat and Dunmore. The land was donated by the Yuill Family Foundation and sits just minutes from Eagle Butte High School, the division’s main feeder school.
When complete, the school will operate as a full agriculture collegiate where students earn a high school diploma alongside safety certifications, a professional portfolio, and hands-on industry experience. Dual credit courses will be available for those pursuing post-secondary education.
“The priority for this project is that we develop a school that is relevant and responsive to the needs of the agriculture industry,” said Nichole Neubauer, who is overseeing programming and fundraising for the project.
Neubauer, a co-owner of Neubauer Farms near Medicine Hat, has spent more than two decades connecting young people with agriculture. She started with farm-based field trips for kindergarten students, and later developed the Agriculture Discovery Center at Irvine School, where students raise livestock, tend a garden, and participate in hands-on programming from April to October.
The Yuill School brings that hands-on model into the classroom full-time.
The school will have a series of labs designed to put learning into practice. Plans include an agronomy and soil sciences lab, a commercial test kitchen for value-added agriculture, a large animal veterinary clinic, and a mechanical shop for equipment repairs.
The veterinary clinic is designed to serve the broader community as well, offering local veterinarians a modern, safe facility to meet clients and perform procedures, while students get to observe and learn alongside them.
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Students will also have the opportunity to earn a heavy equipment operations certification with hands-on time on skid steers, excavators, and forklifts.
Outside, the 76-acre property will have grasslands and wetlands for environmental studies. Students will also have access to an on-site beekeeping program covering hive health, honey production, and marketing. A barn and beef herd, a large horticulture space, and a storefront connected to the test kitchen are also part of the long-term plan.
Neubauer says the school is built on the belief that students cannot pursue what they have never been exposed to.
“Students can’t love, and they can’t pursue what they’ve never seen,” she said. “We need to become far more intentional about how we talk about agriculture and how we get kids excited about it.”
Funding for the project comes from the Yuill Family Foundation, Alberta Education, and Prairie Rose Public Schools, with Neubauer’s husband, Mark, overseeing construction.
An advisory council of 25 community members is making sure the curriculum reflects real industry needs.
Neubauer hopes the school will eventually serve as a national model for high school agriculture education and potentially bridge into a partnership with post-secondary institutions like Medicine Hat College.
Updates on the Yuill School of Agriculture are available on the school’s Facebook page.
Photo Credit: Yuill School of Agriculture Facebook page
