A Local Student Is Bringing Hands-On Learning to Classrooms Across Barry County

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For the past several years, one Barry County student has been quietly working to give local classrooms something many students don’t often experience... the chance to see the life cycle of an egg turn into a chick, right in front of them.

What began as a small effort on a local homestead has grown into a program now reaching classrooms across multiple communities. And it’s all being led by Hastings High School freshman, Chloe Wymer.

hastings high school student chloe wymer — Chloe Wymer

Starting Small at Home

Chloe and her family operate a small homestead in Hastings, where they raise a variety of animals including chickens, quail, ducks, and rabbits.

Through that experience, Chloe began helping provide hatching eggs to classrooms that already had incubators. Students would hatch the eggs, and once the chicks were born, they would be returned to the farm.

For about five years, that’s how the project worked. But Chloe saw an opportunity to do more.

Removing the Barrier for Classrooms

Chloe wanted more students in the community to experience the hatching process, but she knew that many classrooms didn’t have access to the equipment needed. So she began working toward a solution.

As an 8th grader, Chloe developed a plan to create full hatching kits that could be provided to classrooms, allowing teachers to offer the experience without needing to purchase supplies themselves.

She applied for funding through the Michigan Impact Youth Grant program, presenting her idea as a leadership project. Her work earned recognition locally and beyond.

At the 2025 Barry County Fair, Chloe received Best in Show for Leadership, and she went on to earn 1st place in leadership at the 2025 Michigan State Youth Fair for the same project.

While the grant funding was not awarded, the project didn’t stop there.

Turning the Idea Into Reality

After not receiving the grant, Chloe sought out local sponsors to help bring the idea to life.

With community support, she was able to build six complete hatching kits.

Each kit includes:

an incubator
all necessary supplies
educational materials explaining the hatching process
ongoing support for teachers

These kits are now available for local teachers to borrow and completely free of charge.

The Work Behind the Project

Creating the program required more than just putting together supplies.

Chloe had to work through a number of challenges, including:

the cost of building each kit
having space to store both the equipment and the birds
planning for the care of additional poultry
developing a plan for managing any extra birds
and coordinating hatch timing around school schedules

That included making sure chicks wouldn’t hatch during winter conditions, while also working around spring break and ensuring projects were completed before the end of the school year.

It also meant deciding which types of poultry to include in the kits.

To help develop the program, Chloe reached out to teachers for input and guidance on how to grow the project into something that could work in real classrooms.

Why She Continues

For Chloe, the project is about more than just the process of hatching eggs. She has seen firsthand the reaction from students and teachers. She shared that she enjoys seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces during the experience, as well as the excitement from school staff. It is also important to her that youth understand where food comes from and the life cycles of animals, especially since not all students have the opportunity to experience that directly.

A Community That Supports Its Youth

Chloe has lived in Barry County her entire life, and her experience reflects the support she has received along the way.

She credits the community for helping make the project possible, noting that people in Barry County are willing to invest in youth and support projects like hers.

In addition to her work on the hatching program, Chloe is also involved in: