CMSF teacher wins 'Ag in the Classroom' grant

A Saline County teacher has been awarded an Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom grant.

Erin Parks, at Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School, has used the money to integrate agriculture into more parts of her classroom, buying supplies that will enable her students to garden in the classroom, as well as expand it outside with container gardens.

She also is teaching the students how useful gardening is, and making pollinator gardens to help bee populations.

Mrs. Parks has had a long history with the Saline County AITC program. Throughout the years, she has invited the AITC coordinator into her classroom to do presentations, attended Summer Agriculture Institutes and other workshops, and she was the 2016-2017 Saline County AITC Teacher of the Year, for which she attended the National AITC Conference in Kansas City, Kansas in the summer of 2017.

She was also a runner up for the Illinois AITC Teacher of the Year that same year.

Every year, Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom makes grants available to teachers, based on money that is donated by AITC's industry partners and individuals who donate to the IAA Foundation.

These grants are used to help bring agriculture into the classroom. To apply for the competitive grant, teachers explain what lessons they are going to pair with the items they will buy with the grant. Last year, Illinois AITC awarded a total of $22,054 statewide in grant money to teachers.

Congratulations, Mrs. Parks, on receiving the grant and thank you for your dedication to showing the importance of agriculture to your students!