Students at Lodi High School raising chickens as part of agricultural learning program
Chickens have stolen the hearts of the entire student body at Lodi High School in New Jersey. It's the only school in Bergen County that's raising hens to teach sustainability.
"I love taking care of them, I love petting them. They're all girls and they all give me attitude. But, you know, it's really just nice having some animals around it, because you only get this experience here," student Evelyn Paute Pintado told CBS News New York's Chris Wragge.
The chickens are the stars and they have their own personalities. They wear different colored bands to help the students identify them by name.
"It's absolutely wonderful. I mean, gardening is already my hobby, but the chickens are an extra bonus," said teacher Thao Hansen. "They actually came to us out of COVID... We were hatching eggs online and for the kids to watch them. And then we inherited these five from another teacher who actually worked at the summer camp. The kids were wonderful. I mean, these are the favorite animals in the building."
The chickens are a great source of pride and comfort for the students, especially those in a club that specializes in sustainability, agriculture and veterinary science.
"Because of this club, I really started to consider environmental science, landscape architecture, just something to do with the environment, because also I'm, like, a plant girl at heart," Pintado said. "I just really love realizing that nature is something I want to do, that wants to be involved with my career."
The kids are committed to living green, and they are learning at the only school in Bergen County that not only raises chickens, but also grows vegetables and herbs using traditional gardens, hydroponics and aquaponics.
"It's a gratifying experience, and it's also seeing the kids doing things that they don't have exposure to. Many of them don't have a garden, many of them don't have pets, or for that matter, working with anything hands on," said Hansen. "So seeing them become comfortable working in the garden and realizing, also, how easy it is to grow your own food to be sustainable."
"There's a plant science major in Rutgers. And if you're here, you get to learn how to grow your own food. Like we have lemon trees right now, and last week we just did pesto, like homegrown pesto. It was really great," Pintado said.
