Ag Center students started learning the art of butchering and processing meat in the spring semester of the 2018-19 school year and worked over the summer. The Ag Center, which was paid for by the Smart Schools 2020 bonds passed by Missoula County voters in 2015, also has a 100-acre farm, classrooms and lab spaces to teach kids about science-based agriculture topics.

"What's happening today is this is the first time that beef we've purchased from our ag department out at Big Sky High School will be served to all of our elementary and middle schools, and it will also be served out at Big Sky High School," Rossmiller said.

Students from Hellgate, Sentinel, and Big Sky all have the opportunity to enroll in classes at the Ag Center that provide relevant work skills experience in the construction and engineering lab, animal science center, meat processing lab and greenhouse.

"Farm to school used to be if we had apples from our growers in the Bitterroot it was huge, it was exciting, which it is, but this just takes it to a whole different level," Rossmiller continued.

She noted that since she's been working for the food department for 19 years, she's seen a noticeable change in student's attitudes toward where their food comes from.