Posted: 10/1/03

FLHS Ag Dept. receives USDA biotechnology grant

Forest Lake High Schoolís agricultural education department is one of five schools that will share in a biotechnology grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The grant is for $38,500 and will fund a collaborative project to implement biotechnology curriculum into the five schools.

The collaborative project will be spearheaded by the Forest Lake High School and the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council, a state legislative council at the University of Minnesota. ISD 831 is the fiscal agent for the project.

Grant dollars will directly impact some 600 students and 10 teachers at the five schools.

In addition to Forest Lake, the other schools in the collaborative are Stillwater, Dassel-Cokato, Montevideo and Buffalo Lake-Hector.

The schools will use grant funds to establish biotechnology laboratories accessible to agricultural students and biology teachers and students. Instructors from each school will receive biotechnology curriculum training at the University of Minnesota.

The final product will be biotech laboratories valued at $4500 and highly trained instructors at the five schools.

The partnership between the high schools, the U of M and MAELC will be significant to agricultural industries by giving greater visibility to the food-related applications of biological concepts. The grant will also increase public understanding of technology used in food production.

The USDA has provided this grant through the Secondary and two-year Postsecondary Agriculture Education Challenge Grants Program.

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