Spring 2026 Highlights

Second year Agricultural Science students follow a Plant Science curriculum as their main academic source. In October each year Plant Science students learn hydroponic system requirements. They then design, fabricate, and maintain a hydroponic system. Two students worked together to design and construct a small system that they used to produce a great lettuce crop. The harvest lettuce went to the Culinary Arts program for use in the kitchen and served to staff. 

In February each year our students spend a day learning about leadership and advocacy through new Jersey FFA. Students enjoy hearing from agriculture industry professionals, completing some group breakout activities to apply leadership skills, and a nice lunch. 

Finally, we had much to celebrate for this school year. Many state level accomplishments were made and students were recognized at the New Jersey FFA State Convention. 

Eden won 1st place in her Agriscience Fair division. She used her work from her senior research project. Her research question was "Does having calming green spring blooming plants help with learning in our classrooms?". Her results were interesting and she had the ability to reveal perspective from the data that was meaningful. Eden is currently studying to become a teacher.

2025-2026 Somerset Officer Team

Avion in his second year competing in the NJ FFA Fall Career Development Event for Land judging took 4th overall and 5th in the hands-on portion. He is motivated for moving up this fall and getting more peers excited about this event. He plans to study ocean biology in the future.

Charlotte placed 4th for the hands-on portions of the NJ FFA Winter Food Science CDE. This was the first time she competed in this event. 

Paula competed in the NJ FFA Spring Poultry Evaluation CDE and placed 3rd overall. This was the first time she competed in this event. 

Below is proud achievement for our students. Three of the below students have competed in the NJ FFA Veterinary Science CDE in the past. Two are seniors and competed four times, one is a sophomore and competed twice, and our final student is a freshman with her first attempt. Eden a senior placed 5th overall. Piyusha, a freshman placed 4th overall. Teammates Jake and Mahiya earned enough points for the team of four to take 1st place for this year.

 

Trout, Soil Science, and Alumni visit during 2025 Ornament Night fundraiser

Trout, Soil Science, and Alumni visit during Ornament Night fundraiser

Trout in the Classroom is a NJ DEP program that we participate in. NJ DEP and Trout Unlimited work together to bring us trout eggs in the fall. We raise them in a small basket and let them get stronger before we release them into the tank. Students learn to monitor, maintain, and feed the trout and what cold water species like these need to survive. Many other school programs in NJ also do this. We all release the trout into waters specified by NJ DEP with a license. This is a great opportunity for students to learn and apply lessons from curriculum to ecology. 

One of the topics first year students learn is soil science. In the photo above students are learning about pore space by observing and comparing air bubbles that emerge when submerged in water. Here students are comparing less organic soil (left) to more organic soil (right). In the photos below, students are learning how to determine soil texture by hand: a ribbon test. A golf ball sized sample from each collection is dampened and kneaded/ mixed in preparation for pinching into a ribbon. The ribbon is then measured and this information is helpful when determining what plants are suitable for the soil type.

                                        

Our FFA chapter student officers and members have been organizing a holiday fundraiser for the past three years. One the best parts of this is having Agricultural Science alumni join us for the event. It gives current students a chance to connect with graduates and enjoy painting ornaments for the upcoming holiday in December. Below is a photo of our December 2025 Ornament Night group.

 

Succulent Care Guide

 Follow these simple steps to turn your succulent leaf into a beautiful, healthy houseplant!

1. Lay your leaf on dry potting soil. Do not water.

2. After about two weeks, or once the leaf begins to root, water lightly until the soil is damp.

3. Water about once weekly, or when the soil gets dry. 

4. Once your plant has grown, feel free to repeat the process with new leaves!

Note: Succulents thrive best indoors during the winter. Place outside in warmer months. Place in the sun. Water as needed, in the summer they will need more water, and less in the winter.

Good luck! Feel free to check out the rest of this blog to see what else we have going on!

Senior Research Projects

 SCVTHS Agricultural Science Seniors Taking on Research Projects with Professional Guidance.

Coursework

Students in the Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School (SCVTHS) Agricultural Science program have already successfully completed three years of coursework in basic agricultural science. First year students learn the basics of each facet of agriculture in basic animal, plant, environment, ecology, engineering, and communication. While second year students complete coursework in plant science and third year students in animal and plant biotechnology. 

Students in their fourth year get to dedicate class time toward specializing in an agricultural facet they want to pursue beyond high school. In this final year I like to describe this year as a mini-master's degree. Senior students get to find an agricultural problem they want to investigate in animal, plant, environment, ecology, engineering, or communication. They then contact a professional in the field to help guide their project for a question they can answer within high school constraints. From here they design an experiment, run the experiment, collect data, analyze the data, and plan to communicate their results. 

Senior project progress

We are currently finishing up first contact with our professional guidance. Students and I have been excited and honored by the support we have received so far this year. Our professionals have been incredibly helpful and inspiring. Below are the seniors and their current topics. 

Alejandra - Currently working with Dr. Lauren Cook, Marine Science professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Jenna Krug, Environmental Specialist NJ DEP. Alejandra is currently interested in examining how carbon molecules impact local water pH and aquatic wildlife. 

Christina - Currently working with Virginia Osnato, Ecologist Coordinator of Duke Farms. Christina is interested in using bioacoustics to monitor and measure biodiversity on SCVTHS campus and how maintenance practices may impact bird and amphibian populations. 

Eden - Currently working with Irene Wieners, Visiting Professor of Writing with William Patterson University. Eden would like to study how attractive visuals from spring flowering bulbs can have an impact on the learning environment in school classrooms.

Jake - Currently working with Dr. Joseph Heckman, Extension Specialist of Soil Fertility of Rutgers University. Jake is interested in studying soil nutrient availability and uptake with interest in human health.

Start of 25-26 school year with Ecology

Start of 25-26 School Year

Ecology Lessons

Students helped gather native plant seed from four species on SCVTHS campus. Students then cleaned the seed, stratified (cold treated), sowed seed, raised small plug sized plants, and planted into the main courtyard located just outside of the Main Lobby. Students helped clean the planting area of exotic plants and two invasive plant species. 

Here are the after photos. Two pics showing the space after about five months of growing. There were several plants that struggled with establishment due to deer and/or rodent browsing. We will be trialing new species this coming spring for resistance to browsing and fill the more bare areas. The goal is to have a well covered and established planting that out competes non natives and non intended plants from establishing. We also want to educate students and local community of the importance of supporting local insect populations and how we can accomplish this in a stylized and attractive way.

Our Open House plant display getting readied for visitors. Above is the before caring for these. Below is after.

Students expressed interest in raising Butterflies from caterpillars last year. We decided we can do better by raising a moth native moth species. We found a golden bear (Spilosoma virginica) both female and she laid eggs for us. We have about 30 caterpillars in the classroom. We have learned about their behavior, feeding habits, life stages, and more. We currently have at least one that has begun to pupate and we will be overwintering these.

Above: eggs laid on a River birch (Betula nigra) leaf.

Finally, We recently acquired a no till seed drill. We were fortunate to get grant funding to support this purchase. We will be using this machine to plant native seed in areas around our riparian waterway to compete with non native species and help support a healthy water system.

 

 Celebrating 2024-2025 School Year

Awards, scholarship, biodiversity project, art project, FFA state convention, and a fundraiser helping reconnect with graduates. 

Students did very well in FFA Career Development Events (CDE's) at the state level this year. 

Here, our Fruit & Vegetable CDE team earned first place by earning enough points to win our first First Place Team banner which students are proudly receiving at NJ FFA State Convention at Monmouth University in May. One member of the four student team also took first place as an individual competitor. This banner is now proudly displayed in our classroom. 

One student, also on the Environmental & Natural Resource CDE team, again placed first as an individual. 

And our final top award this year was for a student placing second as an individual in the Veterinary Science CDE. 

We are very fortunate to have the support of the Bridgewater Garden Club (BGC) over the years. Ms. Lane and Mrs. Schoefield have been working hard with BGC to support further student post secondary studies. One of our graduating seniors was honored to receive this year's BGC Achievement Award. The student receiving the BGC Achievement Award this year will be attending University of Vermont to study Plant Biology. Students submit a written application, scholastic records, and a letter of recommendation. This is the 12th year and higher than the 12th recipient to be awarded. Thank you BGC for your continued support. 

The two photos above show SCVTHS's peace garden area located just outside of the main lobby. Students help remove exotic invasive plants as well as most of the exotic plants that were planted here. We left three exotics that are not invasive at this point, and for the most part, worked this space to be a clean slate to start from again. 

This project is a continuation of planting native plants to support moths, butterflies, and native bees (both bumble bees and solitary bees). In addition there are a couple non native plants that support generalist insect pollinators. Several species being planted on site were raised from wild collected seed on SCVTHS campus grounds by students. Remaining seed as purchased by the Environmental Club who also funded purchasing growing trays for optimally sized plants for this project. In addition, a collection of plants were donated by Sunset Farmstead and Pinelands Nursey both wholesale nurseries of Columbus NJ. Students got to work with Sunset Farmstead staff and plants to learn more about a small collection of native and pollinator plants and participated in a lecture presented by Pinelands Nursey to learn about the importance of using native plants in our New Jersey Landscapes. 

Using seed (collected from campus and purchased from a local native seed provider) students then learned how to cold treat the seed, plan for seedling development and nursing, and finish by planting and maintaining. Many thanks to all the supporters involved in this project: SCVTHS Environmental Club, SCVTHS admin., Daryl Kobesky and Carrie Stanker of Sunset Farmstead, Bruce Crawford of Morris Co Park Commission, Maria Scarpantonio graduate and Ernst Seed Employee, Steve Knezick of Pinelands Nursery. We have other projects developing for campus and will be sharing these as well.

Seen above are three Agricultural Science students of nine total that worked on an art project lead by our student teacher Ms. Khalid. Students were first given a small 3 inch square piece of paper to make a concept draft of their component. Ms. Khalid asked each art participant to draw what they see in their mind when they hear the word agriculture. Ms. Khalid then lead students through organizing their final copies onto a canvas and supplied art materials to complete the work. The finished piece will be featured in a Rutgers University display before coming here to be displayed for a short time. This project helped student ground themselves in between studying for their Agricultural Science CASE final exams. 

Our FFA Chapter Officer team posing for a picture during a break at NJ FFA State Convention in May. 

We held an Ornament Night fund raiser in December 2024 and invited graduates to come back and reminisce. Four graduates are pictured above. Thanks to Russel (Electronics tech), Elizabeth (Medical Tech), Jonathan (Plant Biology and NASA hopeful), and Kimberly (Vet Tech) for joining us that night. It was great to see them and others not pictured here.