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New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau Educator of the Year

Lynn Bagwell, a kindergarten teacher at Dona Ana Elementary, was honored as the 2009 New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau Educator of the Year at the organization’s annual meeting in Albuquerque, November 20.  This award recognizes how well Bagwell incorporates agriculture into her classroom activities.  “Our school is in a farming community and many of our parents are farmers or work for farmers, picking crops in the fields.  Despite this, most of our students do not know where our food and clothing ultimately comes from.”  So in 2006 she started an annual Ag Day celebration at her school in which all students rotate through presentations focusing on crops such as chile, pecans, cotton, corn and alfalfa.  Presenters are 4-H members, FFA students, local producers and NMDA and NMSU employees.

Bagwell has long been involved with incorporating agriculture into the curriculum and has attended two New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom workshops and participated in the National AITC Conference this past summer.  “Lynn’s students are fortunate to have a teacher that is so passionate about education.  They benefit daily from her interest in farming and modern food production,” said Dalene Hodnett, Director of New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom.  As recipient of the award, Bagwell will attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, June 23-26, 2010.

Bagwell

 

About Agriculture in the Classroom

Too many children, and adults, think food is produced at the grocery store. Ag. in the Classroom is designed to increase student's ability to function more effectively as agriculturally literate citizens, supportive of wise environmental policies and programs. New Mexico Ag. in the Classroom strives to assist educators with teaching more about the source of our food and fiber and the role of agriculture in the nation's total economy and society. Agriculture is incorporated into general subjects already being taught rather than as an "added" subject. Some of the subjects incorporating Ag in the Classroom are:

Program Aspects:

Lessons for K-12 developed by New Mexico teachers, in-service trainings for teachers throughout the state and a resource library which includes environmental and agricultural facts and figures as well as curriculum material from across the nation.

Ag in the Classroom, bringing New Mexico schools to life. A program of the N.M. Farm and Livestock Bureau. In cooperation with:

Contact Us

New Mexico Ag in the Classroom
c/o New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau
P.O. Box 20004
Las Cruces, NM 88004-9004
Phone : (575) 532-4714
Fax : (575) 532-4710