Senator Widener Seeks to Launch AgBioscience Academies Across Ohio

First School Could Be Opened as Soon as 2013

Ohio is currently home to 1,300 bioscience companies and has been adding 59 new bioscience companies each year since 2004. Along with the growth of the bioscience industry in the state comes the demand for a skilled workforce to staff it. However, while one in seven Ohio jobs are in the agricultural bioscience field, the number of students and teachers in agricultural education has recently fallen by 5 percent.

Senator Chris Widener (R-Springfield) plans to address the growing void through education and workforce development. He is seeking partners across the state to help launch a handful of STEM agricultural bioscience academies in rural counties. The schools would operate similar to the science, technology, engineering and math schools like the Dayton Regional STEM School, but they would be dedicated to agricultural bioscience.

The Springfield school district has donated a $10 million building to start the first academy in Clark County in 2013. The proposed school would be called the Global Impact STEM Academy, and it would serve students from 51 school districts. Curriculum would be developed to focus on science, technology, engineering and math to provide an education and experience in the field of agricultural bioscience. It would be the only such school in Ohio and one of only five in the country.

To learn more about Senator Widener’s agricultural bioscience academy initiative, check out the project’s blog: Global Impact STEM Academies.