FLORIDA AG IN THE CLASSROOM UPDATE

AG TAG DOLLARS FUND IMPORTANT PROJECTS

Florida Agriculture in the Classroom has been making good use of proceeds from the Florida agricultural specialty license plate, or “ag tag.” Funds from the attractive tag go to this non-profit organization dedicated to helping teachers educate students about the importance of Florida agriculture by providing them with curricula, materials, workshops, grant money and other programs.

One of Ag in the Classroom’s most successful programs is Ag Literacy Day, a fun event where members of the agriculture industry read to children in nearby schools from a pre-selected book covering an agricultural topic. The number of industry representatives reading at this year’s event, held March 15, grew 15 percent to 1,500. Participants read to about 80,000 students statewide.

Ag Literacy Day is a joint effort between Ag in the Classroom and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In March, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson read the chosen book, Oh Say Can You Seed, to two kindergarten classes at Roberts Elementary School in Tallahassee. He also helped spread the word by sponsoring a resolution accepted by the Florida Cabinet declaring March 15 as Florida Ag Literacy Day.

FLORIDA TEACHER WINS NATIONAL HONOR

Dr. Kitchka Petrova, a teacher at Miami’s Ponce de Leon Middle School, was chosen as winner of the National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award for the Southern region.

Ag in the Classroom sponsors awards at the state and national levels that honor outstanding teachers and volunteers. Dr. Kitchka Petrova, a teacher at Miami’s Ponce de Leon Middle School, took home quite an honor in early June when she was chosen as winner of the National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award for the Southern region. Petrova was one of four teachers in the state honored as Excellence in Teaching award recipients, and then was selected as the overall statewide winner.

Petrova’s project, "Biotechnology and Agriculture," was funded for two years by Ag in the Classroom grants. “Florida Ag in the Classroom and Lisa Gaskalla, its executive director, have been great supporters of my work,” Petrova said. “Without them funding my grant proposal, I wouldn't have been so successful.”

Petrova used her doctorate degree in microbiology to educate her sixth- and seventh-graders about biotechnology and its important contributions to the ag industry. Her students learned how to create plant tissue cultures and used studies of plant DNA to develop plants that are more pest- and disease-resistant as well as more tolerant of cold weather. “I feel happy about winning the award because the state of Florida and Florida Ag in the classroom, with me as a representative, received this honor," Petrova said. “I was grateful to my teachers back in Bulgaria who taught me well and to all the scientists and business professionals who helped me with advice and materials to bring this exciting project to the students in my classroom.”

Petrova said she will continue to work with tissue cultures and explore the biotechnological methods in agriculture with Ag in the Classroom’s help.  “One possibility would be to work with genetically modified plants and compare their growth to the growth of non-modified ones, looking into how biotechnology is used in the food industry to process the agricultural products,” Petrova said.

VOLUNTEERS CONTRIBUTE EFFORT AND EXPERTISE

Teachers aren’t alone in their efforts to show children that their food, plants and fiber don’t just suddenly appear at the store. Volunteers also play an important part. Two of those volunteers also received awards recently. Laurie Schuller and John Gentzel were named Outstanding Volunteers of the Year at the Ag in the Classroom’s 2007 State Teacher and Volunteer Workshop.

Schuller, a citrus grower and cattle rancher, has been training teachers in Brevard County using Ag in the Classroom’s material since 2004, when she attended Ag in the Classroom facilitator training. She serves on the organization’s Volunteer Advisory Panel and participates in Ag Literacy Day.

Gentzel, a South Florida beekeeper known as the “bee man,” brings his passion for bees into classrooms and events across South Florida, serves as a guest speaker and uses Ag in the Classroom resources for his teaching efforts.

GOING “COCOA-NUTS” FOR AGRICULTURE

Florida Ag in the Classroom Executive Director Lisa Gaskalla (right) honored outstanding teachers and volunteers at the organization's annual workshop in June.

Teacher and volunteer awards handed out with a tropical twist were one of many highlights at Florida Ag in the Classroom’s 2007 State Teacher and Volunteer Workshop, themed “Go Cocoa-Nuts for Florida Agriculture,” held June 18-20 at the Cocoa Beach Hilton.

More than 200 teachers and volunteers from around the state gathered at the beachside resort to learn how to make their classrooms buzz (sometimes literally) with agricultural activities. The event kicked off with a representative from NASA who gave participants a rundown on the agency’s space agriculture program. She quizzed the teachers about their knowledge about the space program and explained how NASA’s educational offerings inspire students to “stay close to the Earth and reach for the stars.”

The workshop continued with educational sessions geared to the grade level at which each participant teaches. One middle school session focused on the water cycle, with many specifics that relate to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Another workshop geared to third- through fifth-grade teachers focused on new ways to look at the world and to communicate using agricultural lessons.

On the second afternoon, participants got a first-hand look at the 300,000-acre Deseret Ranch and its cattle, citrus and sod operations.

NEW CHAIRMAN NAMED

Cara Martin, Florida Farm Bureau’s assistant director of government and community affairs, is Florida Ag in the Classroom's new chairman.

Earlier this year, Florida Ag in the Classroom named Cara Martin, Florida Farm Bureau’s assistant director of government and community affairs, as its new chairman. Martin succeeds Heather Nedley, executive director of the Polk County Farm Bureau, in the position. She works with the organization’s Board of Directors, volunteer committees and Executive Director Lisa Gaskalla.

YOU CAN HELP SUPPORT FLORIDA AG IN THE CLASSROOM

Some of the programs and funding your Ag Tag purchase allows Florida Ag in the Classroom to sponsor include:

* Florida's Agriculture Literacy Day.

* Nearly $200,000 in volunteer grant money since the program's inception six years ago.

* More than 20 county workshops.

* Participation of four teachers and administrators at the National AITC Conference.

Please support Ag in the Classroom by purchasing an ag tag from your local tag office. To learn more about Ag in the Classroom, visit www.flagintheclassroom.com.