Agriculture education takes a different approach at Lake Career and Technical Center, a part of the Camdenton School system, located in the midst of the tourism community of Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County. Jeff Kitchen has been the Camdenton agriculture instructor and FFA advisor for the past 20 years.
Jeff commented, “When I first came here, this was a horticulture and landscaping program. The ag program had started just four years before I came and while the beef cattle people had come in and wanted to be a part of it at that time, the district wasn’t open to it then.”
The relationship between traditional agricultural interests of large animal production and row crop farmers and the lake’s tourism and residential concerns has, at times, been a tenuous one.
“After 12 years here though, I began to feel like we weren’t serving the kids well enough and I started lobbying for a change to a broader program. It’s taken a long time to come full circle but in recent years we’ve added more classes and another ag teacher, Cassie Wilmes. Today, we have introduction to agriculture, classes in animal science, agriculture mechanics, conservation and livestock operation and management. We’ve also seen huge growth in the FFA program. When I first came here, we had about 30 kids and now we have 120.”
Jeff Kitchen originally from Eureka, outside of St. Louis, is a self-described kid from the suburbs who grew up, wanting to be a farmer.
With his wife, Jennifer and three children, Sara age 16, Lee, 13 and Grace, 10, Jeff lives outside of Camdenton and with his own houseful of teens, still enjoys the youth of today. “I’ve always thought the kids are great. I really find them more motivated in agriculture than ever, especially in the speaking and leadership aspects of FFA. We just got back from the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and Camdenton now has their first American degree FFA member, Ryan Shoffner. We couldn’t have done that in years past in a horticulture only program.
“We are really fortunate here to have a good building and some really fine lawn equipment. We enjoy real community support and have a booster club. We’re in the process of building a new animal science barn so it is all positive growth. It’s a broader program now, not so intensive in one area as in the past, but broader, exposing the kids to more aspects of agriculture. That is certainly better for them overall. I see real opportunity for growth here in the future.”
Jeff concluded, “It’s an odd marriage of urban and rural concerns. I have six kids in class right now who work for golf courses. The agriculture community is here, influential and positive and it’s a good fit for me.”
