In early September 2025, Spring Creek High School, home of the Silver Sage FFA Chapter, celebrated the opening of a brand-new facility. The 4,800-square-foot Spring Creek High School Agriscience Building includes classrooms, animal and plant science labs and a Nevada Department of Agriculture-approved Custom Cut meat processing facility that supports hundreds of students each day.
Located in Elko County, the heart of Nevada ranching country, the facility is being celebrated by the community. The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured FFA members, educators and Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea.
“Agricultural education is critical to the health of our industry, food supply chains and rural development,” Goicoechea says. “The new agriscience building at Spring Creek High School, and the curriculum that will be taught there, is an exciting investment into career and technical education, offering opportunities to high school students in the area that will further positively impact the local community.”
Heather Steel, career and technical education (CTE) facilitator for the Elko County School District, says students involved in CTE programs have a higher graduation rate than those who aren’t, and receive valuable career-related skills.
“Giving students the opportunity to actually develop skills that will lead to employment in high-wage, high-demand jobs in Nevada is a critical part of what we do,” Steel says. “Without the opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning, they are not actually able to develop those skills.
USDA-Approved
In addition to providing career readiness opportunities at the local level, the facility provides the state with room to grow — with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval.
“Nevada now has the ability to certify meat processing as USDA-approved,” says Kristen Kirkpatrick with the Nevada FFA Association.
“Until now, ranchers had to send their beef out of state, so this new capability will save money for ranchers because they can butcher and process locally, and it will create a lot of jobs. With this state-of-the-art meat lab, students will now be well-trained to go into this new career path.” Spring Creek High School science teacher Brieanna Valdez says that the Silver Sage FFA Chapter’s advisor, Ty Smith, was one of the driving forces behind the project, and he continues to plan for its future.
“[He] has some incredible plans for the meat science lab, including processing livestock and game for community members and becoming USDA-certified through the Nevada Department of Agriculture,” Valdez says. With help from the community and district, Spring Creek High School is showing belief in the future of agriculture. From the classroom to the cutting floor, the agriscience building is shaping a stronger, more sustainable future for Nevada agriculture.
Find a Way Forward
If there’s a need in your community, FFA can help — just ask Kelliher FFA. See how this Minnesota chapter used Grants for Growing funding to establish a yearlong meat-processing class.
