Sauk Prairie High School’s Ag Department buys hydroponic equipment with grant

Sauk Prairie High School’s Agriculture Department recently purchased a $4,000 hydroponic tower, funded entirely from a grant from Compeer Financial’s Fund for Rural America, the Farm Credit cooperative’s giving program. The company awarded a total of $212,000 through the Agriculture Education and Classroom Equipment Grant program this year. Sixty schools in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin located across Compeer Financial’s territory will be receiving grants of up to $4,000 each, funding a variety of hands-on learning tools and new technologies for agriculture education classrooms. Sauk Prairie was one of those schools.    Clockwise from right: The first bountiful batch of hydroponically grown lettuce; Lane Albers, Marty Ziegler, Luz Rodriguez and Grace Kasemodel work to harvest the first batch of lettuce and delivered it to the school lunch program for use on the salad bar; Compeer Financial was able to present a check to Sauk Prairie High School Agriculture Department Students in the amount of $4,000 which was used to purchase a hydroponic tower.  Pictures are Kelsie Mateske from Compeer Financial, Luz Rodriguez, Grace Kasemodel, Thea Harpold, Nikki Uselman - Compeer Financial, Lexi Atkinson, and Audrey Anding.