Growing Augusta: Arts, Agriculture & Agency is launching AgLab: #ChickEdition, a high school adaptation of Sunshine Farms’ popular chick hatching project. While the original program was designed for elementary learners, the Cross Creek pilot retains the engaging embryology experience and explicitly embeds Georgia Basic Agriculture (02.47100) competencies - so teachers can deliver rigorous, standard-aligned instruction with clear student artifacts.

“Sunshine Farms gave us the spark,” said Karen Gordon, director of Growing Augusta. “We’ve tailored it for high school with agribusiness outcomes - students will manage inputs, document quality, analyze margins, and communicate results just like a startup in the farm-to-food pipeline.”

HOW IT FITS THE BASIC AGRICULTURE FRAMEWORK

• AFNR-BAS-1: Employability & Work Habits — Daily AM/PM logs, rotating lab roles, professional communication.

• AFNR-BAS-2: FFA & SAE Foundations — Recordkeeping, presentation artifacts, and hours suitable for Foundational SAE documentation.

• AFNR-BAS-3: Academic Foundations (Life Science/Ag Literacy) — 21-day embryology, heredity/traits, biosecurity and animal-welfare literacy.

• AFNR-BAS-4: Lab Systems, Tools, and Safety — Incubator setup/calibration, humidity/temperature control, sanitation/PPE, equipment maintenance.

• AFNR-BAS-5: Problem Solving, Data & Technical Skills — Hatch-rate math, yield analysis, graphs, CER (Claim-Evidence-Reasoning), and troubleshooting.

WHAT STUDENTS WILL DO

• Manage incubator variables (temperature, humidity, turning) across a 21-day timeline

• Candle eggs to observe development and document evidence

• Apply sanitation, biosecurity, and humane handling in a classroom lab

• Connect biology to agribusiness with budgeting, cost of goods, yield, and simple break-even analysis

Attribution: The original project was created by Sunshine Farms (Lexington, SC). Growing Augusta’s AgLab: #ChickEdition honors that foundation while adapting the experience for high school rigor and Georgia Basic Agriculture standards.

Schools and districts may request the full implementation packet, including lesson sequence, Basic Ag alignment sheet, and student artifact templates in early 2026.