Zoo School students standing outside their agriculture classrooms.
Imagine getting to spend every day at the world’s largest natural habitat zoo. That’s what students at Asheboro High School get to experience as part of their school’s agriculture program and taking specialized science courses at the Zoo School.
Located in Asheboro, N.C., the North Carolina Zoo is home to more than 1,700 animals and covers approximately 2,800 acres of land. The Zoo School was established in 2015 and is the only FFA chapter in the National FFA Organization that’s headquartered at a zoo.
“Zoo school is a lot different from other high schools because we have the ability to actually use the North Carolina Zoo,” says Josh Snider, one of the chapter’s advisors. “We get to work with them on various projects, and the latest one we’ve been working on is developing a new zoo app so guests who come to the zoo have an educational opportunity just like our students do.”
Claire Fields, the chapter’s current president, says that instead of interacting with farm animals like goats or sheep, students at the Zoo School regularly take behind-the-scenes tours and interact with animals housed at the zoo. They also participate in trail clean-ups, and representatives from the zoo bring ambassador animals for them to learn from.
The Zoo School also offers unique classes like animal behavior, zoology and natural resources, in addition to typical agriculture classes like horticulture and animal science.
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