NAAE Member Matthew Eddy Wins Agriscience Educator Award

On July 10, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the American Farm Bureau Federation presented the Third Annual Agriscience Awards, presenting $17,000 in monetary awards at a luncheon ceremony in Washington, D.C.  

"Today we honor four remarkable individuals who are involved in a wide range of agricultural pursuits," said Maria Lombardo, Ed.D., Chair of the Foundation. "From a global leader in agricultural scientific research, to a high school educator who immerses his students in agricultural studies, to two high school students who are conducting groundbreaking research, this year's Agriscience Awards recipients are truly inspirational," said Dr. Lombardo.

Matthew Eddy, NAAE member and agriculture teacher at Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill, IA.  has taught agriculture for 13 years. Participating in the inaugural CASE curriculum institute in 2009, he earned the level of Master Teacher in 2012.  Matthew's agriculture program emphasizes STEM concepts in agriculture, a rigorous curriculum that has been recognized on the State and national level.  He was recently recognized as having the Iowa Outstanding High School agricultural education program and as a finalist for the National Agriscience Teacher of the Year Award.   
                                       
"I am very honored to be named the 2012 Agriscience Educator Award winner," said Mr. Eddy.  "I am truly excited about the innovative CASE curriculum we have created to highlight STEM connections involved in agriculture for students who will become the future agrarians of our world," Eddy said.

For more information about the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and their Agriscience awards, visit this post on Communities of Practice.

Ford Grant Challenge Winners

The Ford Grant Challenge program is sponsored by Ford as a way to assist the development of agricultural education programs. FFA Chapters that submit student Ford Scholarship applications to the National FFA Organization as a part of their annual FFA Scholarship program are eligible to compete. One winner from each of the six NAAE regions is selected to receive a $3000 grant to improve their local agricultural education program. Each regional winner is selected based on their overall Ford student scholarship index score. The Ford Grant Challenge program is a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

2012 Winners
Region I:
Monache High School, Porterville, CA
Cynthia Brown, Agriculture Teacher

Region II:
Cherryvale High School, Cherryvale, KS
Amy Allen, Agriculture Teacher

Region III:
West Central High School, Hartford, SD
Linda Petersen, Agriculture Teacher

Region IV:
Miami Trace High School, Washington Court House, OH
Bruce Bennett, Agriculture Teacher

Region V:
Midway High School, Newton Grove, NC
Chris Jolly, Agriculture Teacher

Region VI:
Pioneer High School, Yorkshire, NY
MaryLou Genaway, Agriculture Teacher

Free High School Leadership Program and Prize Money

This opportunity was brought to our attention at NAAE by our partners at ACTE, so we wanted to pass it along.  Could be a great fit with some of your programs.

The Lead2Feed high school leadership program was created by the Lift a Life Foundation and the USA TODAY Charitable Foundation with assistance from the Yum! Foundation to encourage high school students to hone leadership skills through launching a service-learning project that solves hunger issues.

The program includes a10–lesson, standards-based curriculum on the topic of leadership — based on the book, Taking People With You, by David Novak — provided to participating teachers. The lessons are easy to implement and require minimal teacher preparation.  Students will work in teams to study leadership qualities, identify a hunger-related problem, develop a solution and execute their plan.  The electronic edition of USA TODAY will also accompany the curriculum as a resource.

$500,000 in prizes will be awarded to winning teams for their hunger charity as well as teacher incentives and tablets for the top team winner and runner-up.

For teacher registration, please go to lead2feed.com.  A toolkit will be sent to your school address in September.

SteadyGROW

Grow knowledge online with free steadyGROWpro lesson plans

Get a boost in your efforts to teach plant related sciences from steadyGROWpro, which now offers free lesson plans on their website.

The lesson plans utilize the company’s unique soilless growing media, and allow students to get hands-on experience with growing plants right in the classroom with no mess, no bacteria and no insects.

You can also find kits and modules to compliment and encourage student interest in life sciences by offering them a hands-on approach.

Visit steadygrowpro.com to download the free lesson plans, available as a PDF.

Lesson Plan - steadyGROWpro vs Manufactured Potting Mix

Lesson Plan - Cold Stratification

Lesson Plan - Floating Rafts with steadyGROWpro

SteadyGROWpro is a subsidiary of Syndicate Sales Inc.

2013 Agricultural Education Summit

The 2013 National Agricultural Education Summit will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 30-31 in Indianapolis. Hosted by the National Council for Agricultural Education, the Summit is designed to highlight a major issue of vital importance to agricultural education.

The focus of the 2013 Summit will be on the recruitment, retention and supply of agriculture teachers. Several factors continue to challenge the profession in having an ample supply of well-trained, highly-qualified agriculture teachers vital to sustain and grow agricultural education across the country. The most recent research has identified the following factors as suggesting a need for national, state and local Team Ag Ed groups to develop plans that address the situation.

• The number of agricultural education teacher preparation programs has declined over the past 10 years.
• The number of qualified teachers produced through teacher preparation programs has declined an average of 20 percent over the last three years compared to the previous three years.
• If not for teachers being hired through the use of emergency and alternative certification methods (390 teachers were given emergency certifications in 2009), the supply of teachers would be more unstable than it is today.
• A growing number of secondary agricultural education departments cannot operate because qualified teachers are unavailable.
• Many states are faced with a large number of teachers of retirement age which underscores the need to train larger numbers of teachers to replace them.
• While situations vary from state to state, there is a high percentage of trained teachers who will not relocate to take a position in another state that needs teachers.
  
  These are just a few of the alarming facts of the teacher shortage facing agricultural education. Many more unique situations faced by states also need to be addressed. The staff of the National Association of Agricultural Educators has worked hard to develop and promote the "Teach Ag Campaign" of the National Council for Agricultural Education. The campaign was ramped up this past year with Ellen Thompson's hard work in growing partnerships across all of agricultural education.
  
  It is time for all of agricultural education to unite behind a passion and commitment to solving the shortage. All those in teacher education, state leadership, professional organizations, foundations, teachers and alumni should come together and participate in the 2013 National Agricultural Education Summit. Because of the many participants we need to engage in this process at the state and local level, we will use available technology to bring the Summit to you. All sessions (main as well as breakout sessions) will be video streamed from Indianapolis. We encourage states to host locations assembling key partners and their state Team Ag Ed groups to view the sessions, devote significant time to review their state's particular situation and develop solid plans that address a current teacher shortage or prevents one in the future.
  
  We invite everyone who would like to attend the National Agricultural Education Summit in person to come to Indianapolis. The Council will provide funding for the Summit programing and technology to deliver consistent messaging to a larger than usual Summit audience. Those choosing to attend the Summit in person are responsible for covering their own expenses. It is the desire of The Council that state agricultural education leaders will utilize this unique opportunity to engage as many stakeholders as possible to develop workable plans with clear accountability. The Summit is an opportunity to build a strong foundation that will keep agricultural education strong and growing for years to come.
  
  Additional program information on the 2013 National Agricultural Education Summit will be available soon.