California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (CFAITC) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2009 Literacy for Life Teaching Awards, sponsored by The Oreggia Family Foundation. Below, each shares the secrets to their success.

Michel Etchebarne, Stanislaus County Farm Bureau president, left, and Dave Menshew, 2009 Literacy for Life Teaching Award winner.

It’s a fact: students in California are less aware of their connection to food and energy sources than ever before. Even in my own community of Modesto, in the thriving agricultural hub of the Central Valley, students often believe their servings of fruits and vegetables might come from flavored sodas or artificially colored cereal. Growing up, I took pride in working on a local boysenberry ranch and neighboring peach orchards. My high school summers were spent packing lima beans at a frozen food plant. I delivered supply parts to food processing plants, packing houses, farms and ranches as a young adult, and several years later I operated a number of small markets. Fifteen years ago, feeling the urge to make a positive impact in my hometown, and troubled by the growing numbers of at-risk youth in the community, I became a teacher.

Students in Dave Menshew’s forensic biotechnology class extract and analyze strawberry DNA.

Today, I teach forensic biotechnology at Enochs High School. My years of experience in education and agriculture careers have absolutely convinced me that lessons about food, fiber, forest and nursery in schools can contribute to more comprehensive learning for our students. Aided by the popularity of forensics careers in the popular media, I have developed courses to teach the science behind agriculture, and students can’t get enough of it. Now, with a clear direction, and a “hook” to spark their interest in learning, these students are flourishing. In recent years my students have even helped develop a strawberry DNA extraction lab kit, now successfully being used by thousands of middle school and junior high students in our area.

Please know that your efforts to enhance the education of our state’s 6 million students do make a difference. I see it in my classroom each day, as individuals learn to recognize the significance of agriculture and how it relates to their lives in very real ways. This realization, no matter how small, will help build the foundation of an educated, informed and well-rounded generation of Californians.
—Dave Menshew, 2009 Literacy for Life Teaching Award Winner

Brenda Lacey

Now that I have returned to the classroom, I have seen how many students crave the knowledge of how agriculture relates to them. For example, when we install irrigation systems or grow crops and flowers, they are able to see how these actions come full circle to the local grocery store, floral shop and nursery. They see opportunity.
—Brenda Lacey, Agriculture teacher, Lone Pine High School, Inyo County

Suzanne Squires

Whether students live in the city or country, they are surrounded by the world of agriculture. Turf is grown for residential lawns, fish are raised to stock lakes, and genetics are used to improve the crops and animals that provide us with food. It is not so much ‘important’ to teach agriculture in the classroom as it is ‘vital’ to teach it!
—Suzanne Squires, 7-8 grade science/health/art teacher, Los Olivos Elementary School, Santa Barbara County

CFAITC’s Literacy for Life Teaching Awards recipients are selected annually. All California K-12 educators emphasizing agriculture in their classrooms are encouraged to apply. For more information, please contact Mandi Bottoms at (916) 561-5625 or mbottoms@cfbf.com.

For more information, visit www.cfaitc.org/literacyforlife.