Farms, forests and fish: Agricultural Science & Conservation Law Enforcement

In this episode, we will find out the details of the Agricultural Science program and the Conservation Law Enforcement program at Athens Tech. 

 

Achieve More with Athens Tech, the official podcast of Athens Technical College.

A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. Equal Opportunity Institution.

 

Welcome to Achieve More with Athens Tech, the official podcast of Athens Technical College. This is where you'll discover how the programs at Athens Tech can connect you with in-demand and high paying careers. Today, we're going to hear about the agricultural science program.

Because of Athens tech. I am happier and healthier than I have been in a long time.

As well as the Conservation Law Enforcement Program.

Our instructors bring a wealth of experience and a lot of really good networking opportunities, especially with our other instructor.

Let's begin by hearing what a student has to say about the agricultural science program at Athens Tech.

So my name's William Taylor Johnson. I go back to England, been studying poultry production and in agricultural science, Athens tech. And I'm currently working in the industry. And, you know, I've been in this for less than two years now. And what you know, I've been I've really did it so that I could really expand my knowledge as well as, you know, find something that kept me active in life. You know, it's a farm, or at least the industry itself is very active. So if you try to find something that that helps, you know, help you feel good about yourself. And that's where I ended up with the poultry side of things. So it's it's worked out quite well, actually.

Not every path to the program is the same. Taylor took a journey to get where he is.

Short, short and long of it. I was in the military. I joined when I was in my early twenties when I got out. You know, I was trying to find jobs, trying to find, you know, you know, come back to civilian life. And then I ended up at Athens Tech simply because I wanted to change up my career a little bit. Coming from the maintenance side of things. So I wanted to get in something again, more active for, you know, just to keep my life now a bit more interesting. But I ended up having. You go into Athens Tech. Simply because it was close to home, close to everything I wanted to do. And it offered. You know, small, selective, I shouldn't say selective, but small, smaller class sizes so that I could get more individual learning. And and that really, really drew me in right there was having the idea that there were going to be more individual learning.

So from the classroom to the field, the agricultural science program prepare students for the job.

I've I've actually worked in a in the industry style so I've worked on production side as well as breeders in the poultry industry. What what I found quite amazing was both sides of it. I've used all, if not everything that, you know, some, if not everything of what they have taught me in the classes. So agriculture is a very hands on, you know, field. We you you have to be there, you know, to get some of that experience. It's some things you just don't catch so simply off of a of a PowerPoint. So it, it came in handy to have that hands on experience and then go into the industry. And I was able to use that experience that I got there from Athens Tech. And this courses.

As Abbie will tell you, agricultural science can take you to places you might not expect that.

My name is Abbey Baker. I went through the Agriculture Science Program at Athens Tech. I was in the program from August of 2020 until I just finished. I am now was the I worked through the program as a legal secretary, and I'm doing that full time now. Also, the Hart County chair for the Soil and Water Conservation Commission. And I've been doing that for almost a year now. I'm always kind of in a save the Earth type person, and I felt like getting into something with agriculture, especially like I have, I got the ornamental horticultural production certificate with mine. So things to do with the plants. I love to be around plants. I looked into doing things like hemp farming after I graduated. So anything that just brought me closer to nature I thought was a good idea. So I felt like agriculture science was a great way to put myself back into that. So the first agriculture class I took was Intro to Agriculture. And I remember when I spoke with Dr. Morgan about it, he said, If you took an intro to agriculture class in high school, it's pretty much the same thing just on a college level. So I went in very happy about that with the description he gave me, and I think it was a perfect description because it was just a very good introduction to everything that you're going to learn, because in that class you'll learn about plants and soil and water and different ki