By STEVEN JUPITER
MIDDLEBURY—“Oh yeah, they’re super friendly. And super soft.”
Kelley Mills is standing amid a small tribe of goats at the North Campus of the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center (PAHCC) in Middlebury, where she has just completed her 30th and final year teaching sustainable agriculture.
“This is Nelson and this one is Loretta, my favorite. All the goats are named after country music stars. This one is Jolene and Dolly is over there,” she said, pointing to a black nanny that couldn’t be bothered to come over to greet the visitors. But Nelson and Loretta, two-month-old-kids, came right to her for some head scratches and ear strokes.
Mills wasn’t kidding: their ears are indeed super soft.
The goats are cared for by the students in Mills’ ag classes. The students manage the herd through the entire life cycle, from birth to market. Some of the goats—purebred Boers—are sold to farms, some as pets, and some end up on area dinner tables. All of it teaches the students valuable lessons in animal husbandry.
Though the program now focuses on goats—their size and low-maintenance hardiness are ideal for high-school students—the program has had pigs, sheep, and chickens at various times as well.
“Pigs destroy everything,” laughed Mills. “If their habitat isn’t right, they will destroy whatever habitat they’re in. They tore up the pasture we had them in.”
Mills has spent the past 30 years teaching her students not only to raise animals and plants (PAHCC has a greenhouse at its main campus) but also to care for the environment. The core of the program is, after all, sustainable agriculture.
PAHCC is one of Vermont’s 17 public CTE (Career & Technical Education) centers, serving mainly students in Addison County. Its counterpart in Rutland County is the Stafford Technical Center in Rutland City. They provide career-oriented training to kids in subjects not ordinarily taught at Addison’s three public high schools.
In addition to agriculture, PAHCC offers courses in automotive, construction, culinary arts, and graphic design, among other subjects. Students from Otter Valley can cross the county line to attend PAHCC if the courses they want to take are not offered at Stafford.
Originally from New Jersey, Mill’s family came to Vermont when Kelley was 5, settling on a Christmas-tree farm in Fairfax. She became an active member of the local 4-H.
“I just loved working with animals in 4-H when I was in high school,” she said. “I ended up in the diversified agriculture program at the Essex Technical Center.”
From Essex, Mills went to UVM, where she graduated with a degree in agricultural education in 1989. She was the last student to graduate from that program before the university discontinued it.
She entered the management development program at Agway, working in various stores around New England and New York. A teaching position opened up at PAHCC, but she lost out to a colleague at Agway.
When that colleague ended up on maternity leave some time later, Mills took over the class.
“I was sad when she came back from leave. I wanted to stay,” she laughed.
But that same colleague went out on maternity again, this time telling Mills that the job was hers—she wouldn’t be coming back.
And for the next 30 years, Mills has tried to impart skills and knowledge to her students.
“My role is to introduce them to ways to minimize the impact of farming on the environment,” she said. “I think about how to explain it to students who might not grasp it right away.”
“I can honestly say with honor that I was able to have the best, most caring teacher who goes out of her way to help her students,” one of her students said.
“Eighty percent of my students stay in agriculture,” Mills added. “Some of them go on to be veterinarians. A lot of them already live on family farms.”
Mills herself now lives on a family farm in Florence, with her husband, David. The land has been in David’s family for generations. Originally a sheep farm, it switched to dairy before shifting to beef.
David also teaches at PAHCC, in the diesel program, and is a member of the Pittsford Selectboard, serving as vice-chair.
Though David hasn’t retired, the Millses have sold their cattle and leased out their land. This summer, they plan to spend a month on the road, taking an RV to visit family in Arkansas, Idaho, and Montana.
Mills credits her long career to flexibility and instinct.
“You have to trust your gut, whether it’s how to present material or how to interact with a particular student,” she said.
“When those kids walk through those doors, you have to share your passion with them. They blossom.”
