A variety of classes are offered at Hays High. Some of these classes are not well known to the student body. One of those classes is Animal Science.

This class taught by Hays High teacher Curt Vajnar is a class that teaches students about animal systems, diseases, management practices, evaluation methods, animal nutrition, animal reproduction, and animal management.

“Animal Science counts for a science credit, so a lot of the things that we do in the class has to do with science,” Student teacher Anthony Meals said. “When we learn about animals and their anatomy, we may also learn about the human anatomy along with it.”

Senior Sang Lee currently takes this class.

“Animal science is my favorite class,” Lee said. “I love it because you get to do amazing stuff that you might not have tried in the past, like judging livestock.”

Another student that is taking Animal Science is sophomore Wade Woydziak.

“I like this class because it’s a good way to learn about animals and such,” Woydziak said. “Since I live in the country, I came into the class already knowing things, but I still ended up learning more in Animal Science.”

For one of their assignments in Animal Science, the students had to build a theme park related to the farm.

“We were supposed to make a theme park that needed ten rides,” Woydziak said. “Five of those ten rides had to be animal industry related. We also had to write a proposal to sell the theme park to Disney World.”

On average, the students spent a few class periods and time outside of class to finish the project.

The students don’t only do projects. They also learn about animals, how to judge them, and more.

“We also learn about animal judging,” Woydziak said. “We then go to different places and judge animals on their quality and grade.”

According to Meals, the class has an atmosphere where new ideas and projects are being created to teach the students more about animals.

“I’ve been impressed by the level of expectation required here,” Meals said. “Mr. Vajnar had created a great atmosphere in the classroom that makes it fun to work in.”

16nvuong@usd489.com