New ag building a community affair FFA alumni raise funds, volunteer for Hinckley-Big Rock project
BY MARTHA BLUM AgriNews Publications HINCKLEY, Ill. — Agricultural education opportunities will be expanding for Hinckley-Big Rock High School students with the addition of an Ag Education Building currently under construction near the school. “This building has been in the works for five-plus years,” said Tracey Sanderson, Hinckley-Big Rock agricultural teacher and FFA adviser for the chapter that includes about 100 members. “There was an old building here and the roof blew off, so we got a few initial donations and got the ball rolling for this new building,” said Eric Wackerlin, treasurer of the Hinckley-Big Rock FFA Alumni. Construction of the education building started during the summer. “The shell was built in four weeks with all volunteer labor and all community funded,” said Nan Long, president of the HBR FFA Alumni that includes about 25 members. “Pioneer and Resource Bank were the first two substantial donors,” Wackerlin said. “Then we received donations from Compeer, CHS, DeKane Equipment, Bob Pritchard and a grant from the DeKalb County Community Foundation.”
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In addition to monetary donations, companies donated equipment and personnel to assist with the development of the 50-by-80-foot building. “O’Donnell Excavating did all the site work, and they will do the final grading,” Wackerlin said. “And Condon Construction from Sandwich sent a crew of three guys to do the roof, which was huge.” “Most Saturdays there were 15 to 20 volunteers working on the building, which was quite amazing,” Sanderson said. “To see them work was very humbling since some of them have kids in school, but most are involved in agriculture or they are tradesmen.” “We had such a diverse group of people helping, and some of them had no ties to Hinckley,” said Bob Strand, vice president of the HBR FFA Alumni. FFA students worked together with the adult volunteers. “We helped as much as possible, and it definitely was a lot of learning,” said Maddie Noble, a senior at HBR and president of the FFA chapter. “We were doing stuff on the ground and going up on the lifts to help install the sheets of metal.” “There were a lot of friendships made as the adults mentored to the kids and explained how to use blueprints or what they were doing during construction,” Sanderson said. “It was job shadowing for the students.”
