More agriculture academies are popping up in rural Alberta towns. What are they?

The hamlet of Rolling Hills, Alta., appears out of a sea of flat farmland as a checkerboard of bungalow houses and wide lawns.

With a population of around 270 people, the southern Alberta community is big enough to sustain a filling station, an arena and a small grocery store.

At the centre of it all is what many refer to as the true heart of the community: a pre-K to 9 public school serving about 65 kids.

Until recently, the future of Rolling Hills School was uncertain. Parents worried falling enrolment would see their school shuttered, just as sliding student numbers have done elsewhere.

"The concern from our community was the writing [was] on the wall," said Mike Flieger, the principal of Rolling Hills School.

Rather than wait for bad news, however, the community leaned into its rural heritage.

In the spring of 2023, they made plans to begin an agriculture academy, following the lead of at least a half dozen Alberta schools that have hung their hats on similar programs to revitalize their communities and set their schools apart.

"[We] wanted to be a little bit more proactive … we wanted it to be a school that was about something and attract people that were interested in learning based on our approach."

This month, as Rolling Hills School heads into its second year as an agriculture academy, at least six more students have enrolled. In addition, a new bus route has been established to shuttle in kids from the city of Brooks, about 35 kilometres to the north.

But Flieger's experiment is about more than just the numbers.

It also represents a switch to a method of teaching that is more hands-on and rooted in community, a trend in child education that experts say is becoming more popular across the country.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all definition for "academies" in elementary and high schools across the province.

They vary in how they deliver programming and whether or not students receive credit for non-curriculum-based activities (a common occurrence at sports academies).

While some academies in the province, particularly sports academies, come with tuition fees into the thousands of dollars, Rolling Hills School doesn't charge students anything extra to attend.