Hagerman High School unveiled a new food science lab Wednesday — celebrating a home for an innovative academic program.

The Magic Valley high school is offering an ag and food science class, fusing ag production and food preparation. It’s the first class of its kind in Idaho, Colin Tiernan of the Twin Falls Times-News reported this week.

The goal is to provide graduates with the skills they need to work in the Magic Valley’s food manufacturing sector.

“That’s what is most important: The kids are ready for a real job, and a real career, to pay some real bills,” Daniel Knapp, one of Hagerman’s food science teachers, told Tiernan. “Idaho is not very good at doing that.”

The State Department of Education hasn’t yet approved the Hagerman class.

But that didn’t stop state, city and school officials from gathering at Hagerman High Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the food science lab.

“You’re helping put the Magic Valley in the center of the intersection between agriculture and technology in our state,” state superintendent Sherri Ybarra said at the ceremony, according to Ryan Blake of the Times-News. “Preparing today’s students for the jobs that are waiting in the ag and tech economy are critical for Idaho’s future and our prosperity.”