When most Idaho students are in their classrooms, sophomore Graeme Carlson is already sorting potatoes for a local farmer. For the past two weeks, the Snake River School District – which serves communities such as Firth and Sugar Salem – has swapped the school bell for a harvest schedule.
Harvest break becomes a classroom
Students in these eastern Idaho districts receive a two‑week break that aligns with the potato harvest. For many, the time off feels like a vacation, but for Graeme, his sister Olivia (a junior) and dozens of other teens, it means early mornings, long shifts and a crash course in rural work life.
Olivia rises at 4 a.m., attends a chilly cross‑country practice, then changes into work clothes and heads to the fields. The siblings spent last week on a conveyor belt, sorting an endless stream of potatoes that will soon travel to grocery stores, restaurants and dinner tables across the region.
Learning beyond a paycheck
“It’s kind of a lot of work, but it’s also nice because school’s not very fun either,” Graeme said. While the jobs provide extra income, the students also pick up responsibilities and work rhythms that a typical paycheck can’t teach.
Olivia described the days as “pretty rough waking up to go to practice and then coming here for seven to 13 hours.” Yet both siblings recognize the value of the experience.
Community effort fuels the harvest
David Dougal, a harvest‑break worker and principal of Rockford Elementary in the Snake River district, sees the program as more than a seasonal job. “This is a big thing for this community,” he said. “Without community involvement, it would be really hard to pull off.” Hundreds of regional students, families and workers join forces each fall to get Idaho’s biggest crop out of the ground and into storage.
Spud grower Jeff VanOrden praised the timing of the break. “The two‑week break arrives on time. It’s by far the busiest part of the harvest,” he explained. Extra hands can mean the difference between keeping up and falling behind, and they also reduce traffic congestion for spud trucks by keeping fewer buses on the roads.
A first taste of work life
For many participants, the harvest break is their first job. “For a lot of them, this might be the first job they’ve ever had,” VanOrden noted. The experience offers a practical education that complements classroom learning, teaching students the value of hard work, teamwork and community service.
As the potatoes are loaded onto trucks, stored in cellars and shipped out, the students of Snake River School District are gaining more than seasonal wages – they are building a foundation of responsibility that will serve them long after the harvest ends.
Original reporting: Idaho Education News — read the source article.
