Franklin FFA Dreams of the Future
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The FFA chapter at Franklin High School has plans to grow its organizational and physical footprint by building a free-standing facility to house the organization, grow vegetables and raise animals. The Daily Journal reports the ag-education program in Johnson County hopes to acquire land north of the high school to construct two buildings totaling more than 7,200 square feet.
The publication says nine-acre property is currently an empty field.
FFA adviser Alicia Geesey says one building would house a classroom, food lab, and office space. A second building would be used for animal storage with pens, feeding area and equipment storage.
FFA chapter leaders say they intend to do their own fundraising and would not ask the school district for money.
“Our plan for fundraising is to reach out to agribusinesses in Indiana, agricultural businesses based here that have a need to have people graduating high school with an interest in agriculture,” Geesey said.
She says the project would likely be broken into several stages.
The publication says Indianapolis-based architecture firm Lancer + Beebe conduced pro bono work to develop a draft of the building. It also estimated the project could cost up to $2 million.
Geesey says the buildings could serve as a community hub for agricultural education and be used by other organizations. Click here to read the full story.