After viewing a video paying tribute to the Drop Collaborative's first year in review, Heather Justice, Executive Director of CTE (Career and Technical Education) office of Tennessee's Department of Education, praised the Drop Collaborative and participating students' efforts. In addition to her approval of the program, Sharon Necessary, the Career and Technical Education Consultant in the First Tennessee CORE office, plans to share the video and highlight the Drop Collaborative in next month's CTE directors meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Sharon Necessary has also requested the Drop Collaborative be used as a best practice model for other CTE teachers state­wide.

Students and faculty at Unaka High School are getting ready for a visit by Candice McQueen, commissioner of education for Tennessee.

A newly established agricultural program for students of Unaka High School and the Carter County School System recently received commendation from the state Department of Education and is now receiving support from Lowe’s Home Improvement.

This Fall, students in the Headstart and Pre-K programs in the Carter County School System will be getting the chance to spend a day on the farm while learning about foods, animals and how a farm operates.

The Drop Collaborative project through the Career Technical Educational program at Unaka High School allows students in the agriculture class to expand their education by helping to run a working farm. The UHS students care for the animals, raise vegetables and keep the farm going.
 

A group of local students recently turned their hard work and dedication into an incredible gift for a local non-profit organization.

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The agriculture program at Unaka High School donated around 400 pounds of beef products and several gift bags of toys and other items for children to The Shepherd’s Inn, which is a domestic violence and temporary homeless shelter for women and children in Carter County.

Painting pumpkins, hunting for toy animals in a haystack and making seed necklaces are just a few of the activities students from Unaka Elementary participated in at the Drop Collaborative Farm on Thursday.

Unaka High School students in Future Farmers of America and Supervised Agricultural Experience sponsored the event to give children an opportunity to have fun on a farm.

“This allows kids to see what farming is all about and to learn where their food comes from,” said SEA instructor Josh Armentrout.

Wednesday was a beautiful day to be outside, and Hunter Elementary School third-grade students and Unaka Elementary School first-graders spent the morning on the Drop Farm, a working farm that doubles as a teaching farm for students of the Carter County School System.

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Unaka High School faculty members Melissa Loveless and Josh Armentrout, assisted by high school students in agricultural classes, helped teach the children about how a farm works and what it is like to live on a farm. Although many of the children live in a rural area, many have never spent any time on a farm.

The Drop Collaborative, the organization responsible for providing a Stoney Creek farm for the educational use of Carter County students, is seeking a high school student who is an illustrator/graphic artist to create the images for the children’s coloring book: “The Story of the Drop Collaborative.”

The Drop Collaborative has announced the winner of the art contest that will use illustrations for a 12-page coloring book.

After watching a video that detailed the success of the first year of Unaka High School’s Drop Collaborative, Tennessee Department of Education officials have recognized the program and requested to use it as a best practice model for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs across the State.

An innovative agricultural program and significant improvements at Unaka High School has been noticed in Nashville recently. On Friday, Education Commissioner Candice McQueen took a short tour of the Unaka campus.

With increased foot traffic in the summer, the Drop Collaborative recently had the opportunity to work with the future farmers of Carter County. Taking a moment to enjoy the summer heat and farm landscape, more than 15 children with the Carter Cares summer program visited Unaka High School’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) located on Dry Hollow Road in Stoney Creek Wednesday.

The State's TACD 2017 Conservation Promotion Award winners, Unaka High / Drop Collaborative, accept their award at the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts (TACD) 73rd Annual Convention.

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For 73 years the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts has annually given awards to educators who do an exemplary job of teaching others in their communities about conserving soil, water and all natural resources. The 2017 award for "Conservation Promotion" went to the Unaka High School / Drop Collaborative partnership. Accepting the award were Unaka High School teachers Josh Armentrout, Agriculture and Dr. Melissa Loveless, CTE Principal & Business Technology; Unaka High School Seniors: Jacob Rash and Austin Taylor; and Pattie Meyer, Executive Director, Drop Collaborative.

Friday was a great day to visit the Drop Farm in Stoney Creek, and students from Carter County schools enjoyed visiting with the cows and sheep, riding in the tractor seat and lots of other parts of farm life.

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It was a scene that John Drop had thought was important in the increasing urbanization of America. He had spoken about this desire when his niece, Pattie Meyer, had come down from her Philadelphia advertising company to visit him. He also thought that the farm could be used not only to educate students, but the produce could be used to help those in the country who were hungry.

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Meyer listened to her uncle's dream and she tried to fulfill them for her beloved uncle after he died. It was appropriate that Meyer was on the farm Friday and saw the children enjoying this special classroom that "teaches them a tomato does not come from the grocery store."

Honoring John Drop has steamrolled into a benefit for the community. The ability to do such a thing can quickly bring a smile to Pattie Meyer, executive director of the Drop Collaborative and niece of Drop. As the 2016-17 school year nears its conclusion, Meyer is able to look back at the second year of the farm as a success.

“It has been incredible,” Meyer said. “Just to see so much participation and sharing. That’s what it is all about … helping people and letting people help themselves. There’s so many people to thank. The curriculum created by Unaka High School has been great and that’s a credit to Dr. Melissa Lovelace and Josh Armentrout.”

Some local elementary school students spent a day gettin’ down on the farm while learning about plants and animals.

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The Drop Farm is a Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) for the agriculture programs in the Carter County School System. The project was created by a partnership between the school system and Pattie Meyer, who inherited the farm from her uncle and aunt — John and Patti Drop. The Drop family wanted their farm to serve as a way to help educate future generations about farming and agriculture.

Meyer formed the Drop Collaborative and partnered with the Carter County School System to help bring her family’s dream to life.

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The farm not only serves as a working farm but as an education experience.

Carter County’s Drop Collaborative is seeking up and coming artists for a future project, and they are hosting a contest in order to do it.