The Mobile Science Activity Center Program has been active in Kentucky since 2001, but it recently got a facelift — two brand new trailers, each equipped with 11 iPads, a 70-inch LED TV and a 23-inch touch screen computer.
“We felt it was important we incorporate new technology that the students are using in class and farmers are using in the fields,” says Agriculture Commissioner James Comer.
The popularity of the program and the platform it creates to get kids interested in agriculture at a young age is exciting to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and commodity groups, Comer says.
“The fact of the matter is our kids are two or three generations removed from the farm,” he says. “A lot of our children have not been to a farm or had a farm experience. It’s important, especially with the local food movements and the Kentucky Proud movement, for kids to know where their food comes from.”
The trailers are currently booked more than a year in advance, and the program reaches about 80 schools to educate 20,000 students and 800 teachers a year.