9-5-06
Contact: Maria Samot, (803) 936-4237

Dorchester Academy Teacher Attends National Education Conference

Dorchester Academy Teacher Attends National Education Conference
Vonne Baker, a Dorchester Academy teacher, was one of some 300 people to attend the 25th annual Agriculture in the Classroom Conference June 21-24, 2006.
Baker attended workshops designed to help teachers, volunteers and others raise agricultural literacy among grade school students. The workshops covered a variety of ways to add agriculture to the curriculum, including using bugs, soil, weather and music.

The conference, held in Atlantic City, NJ, and hosted by the New Jersey Agriculture in the Classroom program, marked the silver anniversary of this US Department of Agriculture-structured program put in place in 1981 to reconnect students to the sources of their food and fiber. Special speakers, hands-on activities and information displays and handouts focused on reaching students with information about agriculture.

As a program participant, Baker toured New Jersey agricultural operations and attended a Cowtown rodeo. She also heard remarks from Undersecretary of Agriculture Gale Buchanan, who talked about the importance of the Ag in the Classroom (AITC) program.
“What really makes the program ‘go’ is the enthusiasm and commitment of so many people,” Buchanan said at Wednesday night’s banquet. He said AITC-trained teachers make studies come alive using agriculture references to teach such diverse subjects at reading, math, science, economics and geography.

Baker, a second grade teacher at Dorchester Academy in St. George, received a $1200 scholarship to attend the conference compliments of American Farm Bureau’s White-Reinhardt Fund for Education. The nationally competitive award is presented annually so that outstanding educators may attend the national conference for the purpose of using the information gained from the conference to expand their outreach to students regarding the food and fiber system. It also honors two former chairs of the Women’s Committee, Berta White and Linda Reinhardt, who were leaders in the national effort to improve agricultural literacy.

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