The Lacombe Composite High School’s EcoVision club has finally unveiled their Roofs for Kids project. A small sea can barn with a living roof has been installed at the Northeast side of the school which will be the home to four young goats named Gandalf the Goat, Vincent van Goat, Cracker Jack, and Crumpet.

Students will be making goat byproducts with the animals and learn about animal husbandry. The goats will allow the school to expand their green certificate program up to 20 credits starting this spring as well as provide valuable life lessons.

“It's a skill that transfers into all areas of their life. They learn how to take care of their own pets. They learn how to take care of plants. They learn how to take care of their own children when they get married and have their own families. The ability to care for other things has a long lasting effect on an individual. The second thing that the goats allow us is an animal therapy program,” said Teacher Advisor for the Ecovision Club, Steven Schultz. 

Students will be able to play with the baby goats in their spare time to relieve their stress from their daily lives. Schultz says the animal therapy program called ‘Playing with the Kids,’ has already seen a lot of interest from students.  

“Honestly, I'm personally really excited because not only do you get to learn about how to take care of goats. You can also make products out of them because that's what we're going to do when they're old enough,” said Grade 11 EcoVision Student, Taylor Perez.

Goats at Lacombe Composite High School on September 30th, 2020.

EcoVision saw much support from the Central Alberta area with donations and valuable input in constructing the project. Co-op donated $50,000 as a part of their community spaces program while Echo Energy donated $25,000 for the project’s completion among many other extensive contributions.

“Again, we're very grateful for Co-op Community Spaces, and Echo Lacombe for both of their contributions to put us over the top to allow us to proceed with this fantastic project. Without the students and without the community piece, our projects will fall flat on their face,” said Steven Schultz.

The community support also meant a lot to the students of EcoVision who were excited to see their hard work rewarded.

“Honestly, we've been working so hard in this and having people coming here to help us.  It really means a lot to us.  It definitely gives us more inspiration to keep working and how far we've come to get to get to this day. I've been looking forward to it and then, finally it's happening,” said Grade 12 EcoVision Student, Harika Guggilapu.

Goat barn and living roof at Lacombe Composite High School on September 30th, 2020.

Schultz and graduated student, Darcy Cunningham envisioned the project three years ago working in EccVision’s greenhouse. Now, Cunningham says the student club has given him many valuable experiences.

“EcoVision has given me plenty of real life skills as well as abundance of confidence that that I used to lack, so it's given me a lot more than I could ever have imagined going into it,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham looks forward to volunteering with the school’s FOGG program (Friends of the Greenhouse and Goats) and feels very proud to see his project come to completion.

“I have spent a lot of my time at this place like hundreds, if not, thousands of hours working on stuff here and planning. It means a great deal to me to see what I've done,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham is considering getting into teaching to start programs at other schools that will help students like EcoVision has helped him.

Graduated EcoVision Student, Darcy Cunningham speaks about EcoVision at Lacombe Composite High School on September 30th, 2020.

Now that LCHS will be the first school with goats, EcoVision’s next task will be developing a garden around the goat pen.

“We’re going to do develop an educational garden in the South side of the goat barn. That’s really exciting. We want to be one of the first schools to grow nuts. We're thinking of growing acorns, walnuts, and also Kiwi. Then, we'll have an educational garden with the same plants on the roof but with signs and all their medicinal purposes as well as their indigenous history,” said Schultz.

 Schultz is very excited to incorporate more indigenous plants in his teachings.

The teacher was happy to see the community come together to celebrate the goats and EcoVision’s hard work. He hopes to continue on inspiring students to pursue their dreams through hard work and dedication while supporting the community.