Vere Technical High School in Hayes, Clarendon, is known for churning out top-rated athletes and has produced the most Olympians in the history of Jamaica’s track and field — Merlene Ottey, Ethlyn Tate, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Beverly McDonald and Deon Hemmings-McCatty being a few.

What most people don’t know about Vere however, is that it has also been copping awards for innovation in agriculture, home economics, business, engineering, and information technology with a number of student-led projects which assimilate integrative learning techniques.

According to Clovis Duncan, head of the Agricultural Science Department, the students are the ones who initiate the ideas for most of the projects and the school facilitates their concepts. “The students are enthused because they are involved in the day-to-day activities of the department,” Duncan said.

There are four classes with over 35 students in each. Each class is required to operate the farm for a day. This is good for exam purposes and for students submitting their school-based assessments, Duncan noted.

“The students do very well in internal and external examinations. We have up to 100 per cent pass rates in CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) examination and CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination). This year we have over 55 students that should register for the next sitting,” Duncan disclosed.

Some of the crops grown at the school include cassava, sweet potato, tomato and pakchoi. There is a poultry farm, pigs, goats and bees that are all maintained by the students. Duncan said they would like to get assistance to build a greenhouse where they could also plant sweet peppers and lettuce. They would also like to erect a perimeter fence to prevent praedial larceny, which he said has been rampant at the school.

Meanwhile, with renewable resources to provide energy becoming an increasingly popular choice in Jamaica, Vere students are also creating avenues to curtail the dependence on oil. Using the blades of an old ceiling fan and other small pieces of discarded equipment, the Engineering Department created a wind turbine that is used to provide power for a chicken coop.

The turbine produces up to 13.12 watts, capable of powering up to six LED bulbs. The energy from the turbine is passed through an inverter to two 12-volt car batteries, where it is stored.

The group won the Scientific Research Council’s first prize last year for creativity and originality of the wind -powered chicken coop.

The students have also implemented aquaponics which combines conventional aquaculture with hydroponics to create a symbiotic ecosystem system, another one of several innovative ideas at the institution.

Over the years, Vere students have walked away with first place prizes in different categories including Goat and Care Management, Selection and Grading of Vegetables, Budding and Grafting, Application and Maintenance of Farm Machines, Beef and Cattle Judging, Poultry Care and Management, Floral Arrangement and Project Work display.

They have also taken second and third place in several other competitions, including the Boy of the Year, Practices and Management of Organic Farming, Use and Management of Agro Chemicals, Making of Sandwiches, Meal Preparation and the Making of the 4-H uniform.