Groups collaborating on ag education outreach
Washington Ag Today February 9, 2010 There is a more coordinated effort now in Washington to reach young school students with information about agriculture. Kara Kaelber, who is Education and Outreach Specialist with the Franklin Conservation District, says several groups formed a collaboration called AWARE. Kaelber: “Which stands for stand for Agriculture in Washington: Resources for Educators. What we found was that there were several groups out there doing agriculture education. We were all doing it in a different method. I go out into the classrooms and teach the students. PRIME Curriculum sends a kit out to the teachers to teach students where things come from. And Ag in the Classroom sends out a Weekly Reader type magazine for teachers to utilize. So we are all doing ag education but in different manners. So what we thought we would do is pool our resources together and instead of competing for resources and funding and we would go collectively together and ask for larger amounts of money from different organizations that maybe wouldn’t fund us individually but as a group they would see the benefit of their dollars reaching more students.” Kaelber says just through the programs she runs through the Franklin Conservation District over 25-thousand students were reached last year. Kaelber: “And that is going to help Ag in the Classroom, Northwest Resource Institute, and PRIME Curriculum expand their numbers because I can reach so many students and so many teachers. Therefore I can put all of that information into those teachers‘ hands. So everyone of these programs is expanding dramatically.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
