Summary 2023 — Indiana

State Contact

Innovative Programming

1. Presented at Purdue Sigma Alpha chapter meeting. Over 70 young professionals became aware of Ag in the Classroom. Members then received membership volunteer hours by utilizing Ag in the Classroom materials in local classrooms.
2. Continuation of AITC summer workshops. These workshops have become a signature staple to INFB AITC programming. An increase in teacher attendance continued for the fourth year in a row. Each workshop provided attendees an agriculture related tour. Workshops were also marketed for target student age groups. One of the workshops focused on elementary lessons and activities while the other focused on subject areas more appropriate for middle school or high school students.
3. Host the 3rd INFB Ag Literacy Challenge - this is an award program for Indiana FFA Chapters to showcase their agriculture literacy efforts in their communities. The winning chapter receives a $1,000 grant to further their agriculture literacy efforts. Each district winner receives a $250 grant. District winning chapters are invited to a luncheon where the INFB Young Farmers and Ag Professionals state committee hosts leadership workshops.
4. Participated in Indiana Job Spark. This event brought in over 12,000 8th grade students from Indianapolis and surrounding schools. The event was geared for career exploration and students visited different industry clusters. In the agriculture cluster, we hosted an Agriculture Career Maze. This interactive display led participants through a maze where their direction of travel was determine by answering questions about their personal and career interests. The maze mirrored a life size concept map. Ultimately, students ended up in one of six different paths. Each of the paths represented a different agriculture career area. At the exit of the maze, students were able to choose from an assortment of career cards that related to the agriculture career area. The students could present their career card to a prize table to receive a prize at the completion of the activity.
5. Conducted two professional developments for school staff. On both occasions, I was invited to provide elementary teachers in two different schools with tools and resources to help them incorporate ag into their classrooms.
6. Continued summer programming at the Felege Hiywot Center. This center provides inner city students with agriculture experiences. The center houses a greenhouse and each student gets their own garden plot. Part of the summer programming, includes guest speakers coming in to do a series of educational presentations. This year we focused on sustainable agriculture. During our last visit with the group, we coordinated a trip for students to visit Purdue University where they toured the horticulture facilities, learned about plant science, and toured the Purdue produce plots.

Major Program Impacts or Outcomes

With me being new in this role, a major accomplishment has been getting to know our volunteer base and opening lines of communication with them. I have worked to make myself available for continued questions or to serve as a resource. Developing those relationships help them engage in AITC and allows me to find further ways to aide our volunteers.

Program Leader Biosketch

I graduated Purdue University in December of 2014 with a degree in Agricultural Education. In August of 2015, I started my teaching career as an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor. During my time as a teacher, I taught subjects that included Introduction to Agriculture, Horticulture, Ag Business, Food Science, Advanced Food Science, and Animal Science. I also completed a 15 credit hour co-hort to receive masters credits in the focus area of English Language Learning. In April of 2023, I left the classroom to begin my role at Indiana Farm Bureau as the Education Coordinator.