My Favorite Words to Hear
By Jennifer Elwell, Executive Director
Last week was a busy for Kentucky Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom, mostly thanks to my friend Adam Hinton and the supporters of A Better Community Foundation.
For the fourth year in a row, we visited Fleming County for Agriculture Education and Advocacy Week, several days of events and programs for teachers and students. I am amazed at how many opportunities Adam and his team can provide the education community to foster an appreciation of our farming community. And it gets bigger every year.
On Wednesday, KyAEC and Kentucky Farm Bureau provided a teacher workshop for 16 K-12 teachers. Four of those teachers had attended last year’s workshop, and over and over they shared how they had been using the resources we had given them. This is music to my ears. It is especially great for the other teachers in the room to hear about their successes.
Another “makes my heart sing” moment was the elation these teachers showed when we bestowed them with more resources, such as books, lessons, and activity materials, which save them from having to purchase these things on their own or take their time to put them together.
In fact, our Sponsor a Classroom program and corresponding workshops have been our most successful program, where we have provided materials and training to more than 250 teachers in 28 counties the past two years. Pair that with our participation in the Kentucky Farm Bureau Workshops for the past four years, we have left an impression on more than 2,000 teachers and educators. The student impact is exponential, as teachers can utilize these lessons with students in their entire schools and for many years into the future.
This reach would not be possible without the support of our agriculture community. Groups such as the Kentucky Pork Producers, Kentucky Soybean Board, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Kentucky Corn Growers, Kentucky Beef, and Kentucky Poultry support the development of resources and programs, and then the Kentucky Agriculture Development Fund allows us to double those efforts and provide materials that help the entire agricultural community.
In addition, it is our local farm organizations that help make an impact in their communities. County Farm Bureau offices, Conservation Districts, and agricultural businesses fund programs at their schools and for their teachers.
We are so blessed here in Kentucky to be able offer this level of support for agriculture literacy, and every phone call I receive is confirmation that we are moving in the right direction. It can only get bigger from here.
Anyone interested in providing an agriculture program to your local teachers and schools, please contact me at jennifer@teachkyag.org or call 502-921-2625. All our programs and resources can also be found at www.teachkyag.org.