Zena Lewis, a teacher from Owasso Public Schools, was recently selected by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture as one of 11 educators to receive a $1,500 scholarship to attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference.
Sponsored by the Foundation’s White-Reinhardt Fund for Education in cooperation with the American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee, the scholarship is awarded to educators for their exceptional efforts to encourage agricultural literacy. Scholarship recipients were judged on past use of innovative programs to educate students about agriculture as well as plans to implement information gained at the AITC conference in their own lesson plans and share the information with other teacher and volunteer educators.
The NAITC Conference helps educators from across the nation learn how to incorporate real-life agricultural applications into science, social studies, language arts, math and nutrition lessons. In addition, the conference brings together a diverse group of organizations and speakers to showcase their successful programs, address how to improve agricultural education and literacy and offer educational materials. The Agriculture Department coordinates the AITC program with the goal of helping students gain a greater awareness of the role of agriculture in the economy and society.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and state Farm Bureaus also support and participate in the program’s efforts. The White-Reinhardt Fund for Education honors two former American Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee chairwomen, Berta White and Linda Reinhardt, who were leaders in early national efforts to educate about agriculture and improve agricultural literacy.
Click here for more information about the scholarship and the 2017 recipients.
