MILWAUKEE — The FFA program at Vincent High School prides itself on showing students that there are just as many opportunities in agriculture in urban environments as there are in rural ones.

Arionna Harris tends to the farm animals in her animal science class.

Before she joined the school’s FFA program two years ago, she recalls not even liking animals. Actually taking care of them has changed that.

“I liked interacting with them, cleaning out their things and just making them healthy, and making them feel good,” Harris said.

The FFA program at Vincent High School has multiple disciplines that students can focus on, including Animal Science, Horticulture, Agribusiness, Culinary Arts, Environmental Science and Food Science.

Not only does Harris take care of animals, she has also had the opportunity to make lip balm and bark.

“When I first learned about all of the ag, I realized ag is really everywhere,” she said. “Anytime you walk around. Anytime you grab anything. You gotta think […] This is a part of ag, like a part of everyday life, and you don’t really know about it.”

Donovan Tubbs, another FFA student, went into the program already liking animals but only recently thought about having a career involving them.

“Right now I want to do HVAC, but I hope to own a farm, a little farm,” Tubbs said. “Something like this at Vincent. A couple animals.”

It has also opened Harris up to a new world of possibilities.

“Everything was so one-minded and now I just want to do everything. I wanna do this. I want to do that,” Harris said. “I want to be in the greenhouse one day, then in the barn the next day, be upstairs during culinary and just everywhere.”

No matter what Harris does in the future, she is thankful for her time spent in her high school FFA program.