Roughly 63% if the population of Jefferson County is rural. While the county has a high school graduation rate that's above the state graduation rate, it lags in residents with a four-year college degree or greater – 21.4% – which is 13% below the state figure.
In an effort to introduce higher education at a young age, 4-H Youth Development in Jefferson County collaborated with Metolius Elementary School in 2023 to offer a field trip for its third graders to Oregon State University's main campus in Corvallis. The students visited the OSU Seed Lab and learned about parts of a seed and germination. They also went to the Department of Crop and Soil Science building and learned about wheat. From there they toured the Oldfield Animal Teaching Facility and the OSU Dairy Research Center, where they were able to touch and feed the calves.
This experience sparked interest in the students, who gained knowledge about parts of seeds and their functions. They learned the process of the essential role of wheat in agriculture, from germination to grinding into flour, which is then used to make the food they consume. The tour is made possible with funding from the Oregon Wheat Growers League.