NEW PLYMOUTH, Idaho — Kraten Barker and his New Plymouth High School FFA peers spent a chunk of the academic year living out one of his main motivations for participating in the program.

“It’s great to be part of something bigger than yourself,” the junior said.

Part of that something in 2024-25 involved preparing for FFA’s move into a new building — four times bigger and eight decades younger than its predecessor — including by giving some input on layout.

“It’s just breathtaking,” Barker said of the new facility. “We spent a lot of time buttoning up our shop and preparing to come over.”

Hunter Kaufner, a graduating senior who has participated in FFA in each of his four years at the school, helped fellow chapter members to prepare for the move and to welcome community members to an April 30 open house and ribbon cutting. In early June, he will start a welding job specializing in commercial refrigeration.

“It’s great. People will use it,” he said of the chapter’s new home. His brother and other 2024-25 freshmen, for example, will get three years of welding instruction and experience using state-of-the art equipment.

“The quality of education is going to drastically improve” in the 9,600-square-foot building, said Chase Shoemaker, New Plymouth High agriculture teacher and FFA adviser. “There will be more opportunities for students to learn” including by using the new equipment and systems.

One room will house a meat sciences lab, a new offering that reflects strong demand for skills such as preparation of retail cuts, he said. He has been working with the Northwest Meat Processors Association, and with local meat and butcher shops aiming to pilot a program involving students.

“Any opportunity that we have to expand their knowledge of other industries, that’s exciting,” said Kevin Barker, Kraten’s father and an Idaho FFA Foundation executive committee member.

The meat sciences program will be one of the first in the state, said Barker, former longtime New Plymouth agriculture teacher now teaching ag at Notus High School.

New Plymouth’s existing ag shop is about 2,500 square feet. It was designed for training former military members returning from war service, Barker said.

The FFA program has made the building work — 15 seniors have lined up jobs, including in fabrication and several types of welding, Shoemaker said — but has outgrown it in terms of space as well as power and technological capabilities.

The new building provides more room to work on projects, one way that having the facility will help the FFA chapter continue its emphasis on career readiness for job placement, Barker said.

Shoemaker said he now has about 146 students a day, “which is more than half the high school.” He starts the year with the maximum, 160, plus a waiting list for most courses.

The new building is well suited to accommodate existing needs and future growth, he said.

The project has included a $2.4 million Idaho Career Ready Students grant — the legislature created the program via House Bill 267 in 2023 — donation of the metal structure by R&M Steel, and free sketch and cost-estimate work by Schlager Zimmerman Architects and Beniton Construction, respectively.

“Agriculture education and the FFA organization grow leaders and innovators for our future,” Idaho FFA Foundation executive director Carly Jordan said. The grant, and contributions from private industry, make a “huge impact.”

At New Plymouth, “the improvements and funding will provide wonderful opportunities, and we’re thrilled for the students and FFA members that will benefit for many years to come,” she said.

Move-in is scheduled the week of May 5, Shoemaker said.

“There has been a lot of community and agriculture industry interest in the project,” he said.