MILWAUKEE — There is a place in Milwaukee where you can buy farm-fresh eggs for cheaper than what you would typically pay in the grocery store. Those eggs come from chickens hand-raised by Milwaukee Public School students.
Ms. Monica Gahan's classroom is anything but typical. When you walk in, you are likely to be greeted by the classroom dog Ryder or have to step over Norm the tortoise. Not only are there animals everywhere you turn, but students also have chores. Those chores include taking care of chickens.
Vincent High School’s Agriculture program used to raise chickens before the pandemic. But during COVID they were forced to sell off a lot of their animals. In May of last year, the program got some baby chicks that the students have since raised.
“We have just been growing and tending to their every need,” said Arionna Harris, a senior at Vincent High School.
“They started laying eggs in October,” said Gahan.
As part of the class, the students are responsible for those eggs.
“Once we get them we wash them, we package them up and we sell them to whoever we can,” said Harris.
The eggs are sold for $4 a dozen. It's a deal for farm fresh eggs compared to the grocery store which our Price Tracker found the cheapest price for a dozen, for $4.37 at Walmart in Milwaukee. And Mrs. Gahan knows they are selling them for cheaper than the grocery store, but she says because they are a small operation, they are still covering their costs, plus there is a bigger lesson students are learning.
“It is a way for the kids to actually see what they are doing out here; transports into food for somebody else,” said Gahan.
The students take care of every part of the process, including washing, weighing and packaging the eggs. They have also learned fresh off the farm makes a difference in the taste of their food.
“They are actually pretty good compared to store-bought,” said Harris.
If you want to get your hands on some of Vincent’s farm fresh eggs, you can either message the Agriculture Facebook page, or they will sell them in-person during the Vincent High School fish fries in March.
