July 28, 2022
A new North Agricultural Science Center is ready to welcome students for the 2022-23 school year. The 6.9 acre site on Mills Branch Drive is located within four miles of Kingwood and Kingwood Park High Schools.
The new facility replaces the existing Kingwood Ag Barn located on Woodland Hills Drive which has flooded multiple times since opening in 1995. Hurricane Harvey caused the most extensive flooding in 2017.
The new North Agricultural Science Center will eliminate the worries of flooding due to its location on higher land.
“Hurricane Harvey flooded our current ag facility up to the rafters,” Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Fagen said. “Since that time, every time we see significant rain, our students are forced to evacuate a lot of animals to a separate ag facility.”
The new space has the capacity to hold 70 pigs and 70 goats or lamb. There’s also room for 24 cattle along with 20 poultry and rabbit pens.
“This new facility offers expanded space for students to interact with their animals,” Larkin Le Sueur, Career and Technical Education Director for Humble ISD, said. “It also makes Humble ISD a destination district for expanded FFA opportunities.”
The new center includes a practice arena, teacher offices, restrooms, a designated turnout area, comprehensive security measures, and expanded parking.
In addition, the new site contains a bee farm that will allow students to learn beekeeping skills.
“The hives on this site support other learning opportunities associated with bees and the FFA program,” Kevin McCarty, agriculture teacher at Kingwood Park High School, said.
McCarty, who oversees the beekeeping project, is also using the project to help veterans. “We are working with Hives for Heroes building hives and eventually providing bees for other veterans that are starting beekeeping,” McCarty said.
The district’s southern ag barn near Ross Sterling Middle School was also renovated to include a new practice arena, restrooms and offices.
