It can be difficult for a high school student to determine a career path without ever experiencing it.

But 78 students from North Hall High School were able to get valuable firsthand experience Thursday at 13 agricultural businesses in the area.

The students were participating in Junior Achievement’s Agriculture Job Shadow Day, which is a collaborative effort of the Hall County School System, the Greater Hall County Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement.

“Even with all the information one can find about careers on the Internet, you can’t beat the experience of learning about a company or career by experiencing it in person in the shadow of a working professional,” said Rhonda Samples, coordinator of career technology and work-based learning for the Hall County School System. “Allowing students this opportunity in their related pathways of interest will help navigate their way to greater success in college and career.”

Students were able to choose which business they visited based on their interests.

More than half of the students opted to learn from agricultural leaders in poultry, animal and food science at the University of Georgia. Smaller groups split off to help milk cows, see how football fields are maintained, or to observe a surgery in a veterinarian’s office.

A group of 10 students took a tour of Steve and Tabitha Brinson’s cattle farm in Gainesville. The couple took the students on a hayride through their fields and explained the inner workings of running a farm.

The Brinsons discussed the economic aspects of farming, the tools they use, conservation measures and breeding.

The students heard about the daily struggles the farmers face with simple things such as weeds that grow in the fields and take up needed space for the grass the cows feed on. They learned about the herd’s detailed identification system and how the farmers maintain the herd’s health.

Emily Lance, a sophomore, said her choice was easy because she’s always loved farms. She wants to be a large-animal veterinarian and work with farm animals, cows and horses specifically.

She said she was intrigued by learning about the farm’s watering system.

“The creeks that we have on the property in the summertime are pretty close to drying up and they’re just not enough to sustain the cows so we’ve got almost 10,000 linear feet of water lines running through the pastures,” Tabitha Brinson said.

A.J. Zurzolo, a senior, said he intends to continue working on his family farm after graduating from high school. He said it was interesting to see the differences in the way the two farms worked.

Deana Harper, work-based learning coordinator for North Hall High, said the experience will be beneficial to the students.

“Job shadow experiences are meant to take classroom learning outside the walls of the classroom and actually get them on a real work site and make classroom learning relevant,” Harper said.