When Sue Ellspermann, president of Ivy Tech, announced an initiative called Innovation Day in late 2016, David Harrell took her at her word. He dreamed of taking vocational training to high school students to teach skills that might require equipment some programs didn’t have. He put his idea for an Ivy Tech mobile agriculture classroom on paper and submitted it.

“The mobile classroom idea was a finalist,” Harrell recalls. “But the scope of my project was beyond the funds they had allocated.”

Harrell, who lives in Johnson County, Ind., began teaching ag classes at Ivy Tech-Columbus on a part-time basis more than a decade ago. He was recruited by Matt John, chairman of the Ivy Tech-Columbus ag program. Harrell became a full-time instructor in 2015.

“I still wanted to pursue my dream, but Matt told me I would never find the funding,” Harrell says. “Yet he loved the idea, and he never told me I couldn’t try. So, I started looking.”

The original budget for a completely equipped mobile classroom was $170,000, Harrell says. He knew it was a big hill to climb.

“We’re fortunate some local businesses and foundations stepped up and made large contributions to get the ball rolling,” Harrell says. “We couldn’t have gotten it off the ground without their support.”

Related:Mobile classroom promotes ag education

When the classroom finally became reality, donors who contributed $5,000 or more earned a spot for their logo on the outside of the trailer.

Many supporters

That still didn’t get Harrell across the finish line. He made it clear he would accept donations of any size. He even used crowdfunding through social media to raise funds.

“This project took a number of years to implement,” Harrell acknowledges. But he never gave up, and he finally raised enough money to make it happen. The classroom, officially known as the Ivy Tech Mobile Agriculture Classroom, or Ivy Tech MAC, was officially unveiled in October.

“We’ve had three main objectives from the start,” Harrell explains. “First, we want to take ag education to high schools where vocational agriculture hasn’t been offered, and to schools with existing programs, too. We want to help expand teaching capabilities of high school ag programs to incorporate high-demand skills in the ag mechanization realm.”

That includes bringing younger ag teachers who may not have a full ag background up to speed, he adds. Teachers of all ages will be exposed to high-tech techniques.

“Second, we hope it will help recruit students for our program,” Harrell says. “It’s a rolling billboard as it goes down the highway. We plan to take current Ivy Tech students along to help instruct students or other participants.”

Third, Harrell says the mobile classroom will allow them to offer on-site training for ag employees in communities. In the future, they hope to offer Occupational Safety and Health Administration-compliance training as part of the project.

Keep dreaming, Dave. The Ivy Tech MAC rolling billboard should also inspire others with sound ideas to continue seeking solutions, even when some say it can’t be done.

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