CENTRALIA — Centralia HSD 200 has received a $10,000 grant from America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The district will use the money to purchase Chromebooks for high school students to use in science and agriculture courses.

Students will use the Chromebooks to conduct research and perform interactive virtual labs and dissections. The new technology will be especially useful for simulating hands-on experiments that cannot be done in person due to safety, cost or other prohibitive reasons. Members of the FFA chapter will also have access to the Chromebooks to prepare for contests held throughout the year.

“Our school has been working to incorporate more technology into the agriculture program to prepare students for the farms of the future,” said Mehgan English, agriculture science teacher at the high school. “Students relate to technology now more than ever, and the Chromebooks will provide students with more opportunities for interactive learning.”

English also hopes to incorporate outdoor horticulture activities using the Chromebooks for plant and tree identification, allowing students to take technology outside of the classroom to learn more about the field of agriculture.

Farmers who nominated the school district and representatives from the school and the Monsanto Fund attended a check presentation to celebrate the grant during a home football game on Oct. 16.

This year the school district also received an educational starter kit from Monsanto Company to help establish a pollinator garden, which will give students first-hand knowledge of the critical role habitat plays in providing bees and butterflies with food, shelter and places to lay eggs.