Ferguson College of Agriculture

In the small town of Hollis, Oklahoma, a group of middle school students isn’t just learning about civic leadership – they’re putting it into practice in inspiring ways.

 

The program, led by Drs. Shane Robinson and Lauren Cline, started in 2022. They began conducting a needs assessment in Harmon County, asking residents what skills youth needed to make positive changes in their community.

 

With that feedback, they created a curriculum that became part of a new careers and leadership elective course at Hollis Middle School. Over the 2022-2023 school year, 21 6^th-8^th graders learned about everything from entrepreneurship to the roles that keep a rural town running.

 

But this wasn’t just a classroom exercise. The students formed a “Youth Action Council” to research problems in Hollis and develop solutions themselves. Their first major project? Fixing potholes on the street in front of their school – getting a truckload of asphalt and patching them with their own hands.

 

“For these kids, they get to see immediate change in their community on something a lot of people have complained about,” Cline explained.

 

Their next endeavor is even more ambitious – establishing a “Hollis Remote” program to attract remote workers to move to the town. They have received approval to offer dedicated co-working space in an unused floor of the county courthouse.

 

To reinforce their civic leadership lessons, Cline’s team took the students on a multi-stop tour of Oklahoma communities in May. They learned about economic development strategies, met with mayors and other leaders, and even visited the capitol building.

 

“For a lot of these kids, this was their first time out of Harmon County,” said Cline.

 

At the capitol, the students met with their representatives, the Secretary of Agriculture, and even Governor Stitt himself. The powerful experience drove home how their local efforts connect to broader civic participation.

 

“My favorite part of the trip was meeting with the Governor and being able to ask him questions,” one student raved.

 

One of the most impactful stops on the tour was Restore Farms, a nonprofit urban farm in Oklahoma City. Cline wanted to show the students a model for how businesses can blend profitability with benefitting the community.

 

Restore Farms operates in an area considered a food desert, growing produce that is sold at an affordable market in partnership with the grocery chain Homeland. But the farm’s mission goes beyond just providing food access. The farm provides internships to junior and high school students, teaching valuable employment skills – addressing both food insecurity and economic insecurity.

 

For the Hollis students, visiting Restore Farms demonstrated how sustainable agriculture can uplift an entire community when coupled with smart initiatives. Seeing this model in action likely sparked ideas for how their own “Hollis Remote” project could make their small  town more vibrant through creative solutions.

 

 

While this was the pilot year, Cline and Robinson have funding to continue the program in Hollis next year with a new group of students, while allowing the current participants to stay involved. Looking ahead, they hope to adapt the curriculum for other communities and youth organizations like 4-H.

 

The message to rural youth? Your voices matter. With skills and initiative, you can create positive change right where you live – potholes, economic growth, and all. As these Hollis middle schoolers have shown, when students take the lead, incredible things can happen.