Saturday, October 29, 2005
The new program for high school students prepares them for college or careers.
MONROE, Ohio (AP) --It's the first class of the morning for high school junior Dana Santoro, and that means its time to shovel some manure.
Cleaning out horse stalls isn't punishment but rather the first daily assignment for students in Butler Tech's new Natural Science Center studying to become horse trainers and veterinarians.
Located on 15 acres of the former Matson family farm, off Ohio 63, the unusual school that opened in August has already attracted dozens of Butler County high school juniors and seniors interested in working with animals.
"It's awesome," Santoro, 16, from West Chester Township, said. Daily routine
The equine science program is the most popular at the new school, with 24 students from various Butler County schools enrolled. A typical morning finds them releasing eight frisky horses into one of the corrals to let them burn off some energy before the morning's lesson begins.
Once the horses have calmed down, students enter the corral and begin "circling drills," designed to lead horses by a length of rope in the proper direction, pace and diameter while circling their student trainer.
One horse, a high-strung Arabian, suddenly bolts from its circling paces and sprints to the nearest fence. The horse is gently coaxed back, and the lesson resumes.
"This is a classroom here," said Tim Spoerl, equine science teacher for the Natural Science Center. "It's not just playing around with horses."
Students agree, pointing to rigorous studies and class work both in a converted farmhouse and in more traditional classes at the nearby Greentree Health Science Academy in Monroe. They'll either continue in college equine or veterinarian programs, or go to work as horse trainers, breeders or animal physical therapists.
Anticipating the future
"There is a desperate need for workers in these occupations because as a nation, we spend an awful lot of money on these animals, and somebody has to take care of them," said Bill Solazzo, spokesman for Butler Tech.
Students, who applied for the school last year as sophomores, are taught equine anatomy, reproduction techniques, horse genetics, nutrition, horse evaluation and management, spending half their class day. The other half is spent in classrooms studying animal sciences and regular high school subjects.