Dewberry School and the Green Certificate Program – a Project of the Heart

What happens when you invite an eclectic group of academics and industry professionals, an exceptional teacher and seven intrepid kids from a hamlet in the middle of Alberta to launch the first Poultry Green Certificate Program in Dewberry? Magic. Read on to follow the story of a pipedream turned to reality and how the amazing collaborations impacted not only the students and the school but all who reached out to inspire this Project of the Heart.

Tyson Lancaster is currently a full-time teacher and Inclusive Learning Coach at Dewberry School, where he has strong roots both in the school and community. The school, located within the county of Vermilion River, northwest of Lloydminster, includes grades 1- 12 with a private kindergarten and just over 80 students.   

The journey began when Tyson went looking for an alternative to academic credits for a group of Grade 11 kids that needed a different kind of inspiration. “I was looking for something where students could feel and achieve success in a way that wasn’t traditional school,” said Lancaster. 

The Green Certificate Program came up in discussions with his principal and Tyson reached out to Green Certificate Regional Coordinator, Deanna Krys. Despite multiple obstacles, it looked like an amazing opportunity for his students and a perfect fit for a school trying to rebrand themselves. “We are working to be a school that understands real life contexts and allows for authentic learning,” said Lancaster. 

The Poultry Green Certificate Program was designed with poultry industry stakeholders, and written by Dr. Frank Robinson in 2015. It is an Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Program, in which a student will receive a Certificate upon completion as well as 17 level 30 credits. Lakeland College provides support to the school coordinator, students and trainers during their time on the program at no cost to the school or students.

Tyson looked at the laying hen program and thought – how hard can it be? He didn’t have a lot of agricultural experience but there was a shed that could be easily converted, he could find a few chickens and figure out the rest from there. Deanna said she would reach out to people in the industry and see who might be available to help. “I could never have imagined where it went,” laughed Lancaster. “I had NO idea – no idea, let me tell you!” 

The first of many amazing connections began when Dr. Frank Robinson, Professor of Poultry Production and Physiology at the U of A reached out. He told Tyson he would love to join the project and would set up an Advisory Committee of people in industry to help. He saw it as a trailblazing opportunity. 

“When I put together the Green Certificate Program for Poultry six years ago, I thought to myself, it would be fun to teach that to high school students,” said Robinson. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.  Tyson Lancaster is a kind of person you just want to work with as he is enthusiastic and committed to student success.” 

The Advisory Committee was formed with the following members: Deanna Krys: Green Certificate Regional Coordinator, Lakeland College, Dr. Valerie Carney: PIP Lead, Dave Lastiwka: Field Services Coordinator, EFA and Green Certificate Student Examiner, Dr. Frank Robinson: Professor, Poultry Production and Physiology, U of A, Nancy Robinson: Assistant Manager, Alberta Hatching Egg Producers, Susan Schafers: Pullet grower/Table Egg Producer, STS Farms, Hinke Therrien: Broiler/Turkey Producer, MENT-2B Agribusiness Ltd and Art van Zanten: Sales/Service Hi-Pro Feeds, Trouw Nutrition Canada.  

Tyson wrote up a proposal and sent it out for questions and feedback, Frank created the Advisory Council paperwork and they met again to finalize the details. There were many hoops to jump through, including permissions from OHS with biosecurity, fire safety and disease control measures, policies from the school division perspective to consider as well as a need to change pre-existing bylaws. Tyson learned a lot about applying for agricultural development permits and is grateful to the county of Vermilion River as they were extremely helpful and supportive of the project. 

After working tirelessly to fulfill all the requirements and with most of the roadblocks out of the way, it was finally time to start building the coop. Susan Schafers had offered to donate the hens, recommending that they take 25 birds. With limited carpentry experience, Tyson was grateful when Bruce Maddex, retired carpenter and community member, generously offered his time, expertise and whatever materials he had on hand to the project. “He oversaw and instructed the whole build start to finish, putting in over 60 hours of volunteer work,” said Tyson.

Frank advised on the planning of the coop through a short course, running through do’s and don’ts and biosecurity concerns. The coop is fully insulated and panelled with a dressing/storage room for biosecurity wear and a ledge to step over as you leave the dressing room, providing a visual reminder to keep outside clothes and boots away from the birds. “The discussion that went into the infrastructure of the project was very positive,” recalled Frank.  “Lots of people became involved.  My brother, John, is a Regina home designer and he designed a roll away nest.  We cut out the pieces and I took it to Dewberry and the class put it together.” 

One community member donated the paint and another the straw, but the build primarily came out of the school budget and the principal worked tirelessly to make it happen. School division and maintenance employees also generously donated their time and expertise. Through tremendous generosity of time and talent, the 8×12 shed was transformed into a beautiful coop. 

The Poultry Green Certificate program is set up with three assessments. The Dewberry class started with section Y – Poultry Processes and Practices – which includes coop details, feed systems, handling birds, coop introduction, obtaining them from producers, biosecurity, feed and environmental systems.

“We pre-learned a great deal of information in about two weeks before the birds arrived,” recalled Lancaster.

On October 25, Susan Schafers, Nancy Robinson, Val Carney and Hinka Therrien arrived with 26, 20-week old pullets. “They were laying eggs in the truck on the way,” smiled Lancaster. “When the birds arrived, we had hands-on learning from everyone. They all came out in a truck as a road trip, on a cold and blustery day.”

Art from Trouw Nutrition had already delivered the feed, and the company donated a feed scale to the school. The Lohman brown hens settled in quickly and the students passed the first assessment with excellent marks. 

After the birds arrived, Frank led the group through anatomy and bird biology, the importance (again) of biosecurity, how vaccines work and more. “Frank took a trip out to Dewberry and they dissected one of the hens,” said Tyson. He used that time to explain what to look for if there were, for example, abnormalities in the crop, gizzard, digestive, reproductive and respiratory tracts.” Not one student was squeamish. 

“The curriculum is intense and covers so many aspects of the science of poultry production,” explained Frank.  “I really like the class, and I find myself treating them the way I teach university students, so I have learned from Tyson and I now spend time reviewing presentations as well.” 

Students are scheduled with daily barn chores and have an excellent communication network. The Green Certificate Program is promoting a level of trust and responsibility that the kids have embraced well beyond anyone’s expectations. They care about the birds and, above all, they don’t want to disappoint their teachers and mentors.

“They are really owning the outside sources of education that they are getting,” said Tyson. Last year, it was hard to get them to turn on the camera for a zoom class but now they are hanging on every word in their daily sessions with Frank.

“He has been so generous and so giving, devoting hours to create these zoom lessons,” said Tyson. Frank has offered his zoom one-hour classes daily since October 6 and will continue until the end of January 2022. The program requires 400 hours on top of the three assessments and the goal is to get 200 hours/semester. The Green Certificate is meant to be an out of school experience as well, so the next step in terms of harnessing responsibility will be to eliminate the class component with book instruction completed by the end of January and the last assessment in May. With support from Lancaster, students will continue the bird care and chores on their own. 

After only three months of actively caring for and learning about the chickens, benefits from the Green Certificate program have been extraordinary. Apart from the core science, the students are learning respectful communication, problem solving, responsibility and challenging thinking. Language arts, math, science and current events all have practical applications and new meaning for the kids. 

 “It’s an all-encompassing curricular piece that impacts the rest,” said Tyson. 

Now that the hens are laying over 20 eggs a day, the kids are starting to develop marketing strategies for their quality controlled, candled, farm-fresh eggs. Ideas are percolating for future iterations of the Green Certificate for Dewberry School such as a broiler cycle, another laying hen cycle where the current students could act as mentors, incubating hatching eggs for the whole school to monitor and a unit on egg-based nutrition. 

Tyson has some thoughts on the long-term outcomes of this amazing project.  

“This has been a relationship builder and to me, the forefront of teaching has always been relationships. We have spent so much time together with a common vision and goal and it’s so cool to see them have a real sense of purpose in the school. They are the GC kids.”

He feels enormous gratitude to all the experts, community members, Green Certificate staff, school and town officials, family and friends who gave so much to make the magic happen for Dewberry School. 

“I have really enjoyed this project,” reflected Frank.  “I think Tyson and the students need to be recognized for being pioneers in embracing mainstream agriculture in a secondary school environment.”  

Tyson has special thanks for Frank and the Advisory Committee.

“I can’t give enough gratitude to the Advisory Committee,” he said. “It was a pipedream and they pushed it to reality. Once it was built and the birds arrived, it was an exciting day and it’s just going so well. It’s a project of the heart.”

Tyson Lancaster and the seven grade 11 students from Dewberry School will be giving a virtual presentation about their Green Certificate experience at the Western Poultry Conference in Red Deer on February 28, 2022.

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