Hayseed High

By Kerry White

The Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences prepares students for careers far beyond the traditional corn and cow pursuits.

They are the most unlikely of farmers working on the most unlikely of farms. And like most Illinois farmers on this late summer morning, Xander and Dove O'Connor--brother and sister--are well into their first chore. But it's the pounding rhythm of the subway, not roosters, that summons the duo at dawn five mornings a week. And, unlike "real" country farmers, the O'Connors' first task is simply getting to the farm.

Xander and Dove are students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. Each weekday, two of Chicago's elevated trains and a city bus take them far from the Lincoln Park home they share with their parents and five other siblings to so-called "Farmer High," on the southwest edge of the city. The school is one of Chicago's nine magnet schools, and one of two city schools in the nation devoted to agriculture (the...