Grants awarded to beginning ag teachers

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Four new Illinois agriculture education teachers were recently recognized by the IAA Foundation as recipients of an Illinois Agricultural Education Teacher Grant.

Alexis Carroll, Winchester High School; Emily Friese, Pittsfield High School; Sarah Paige Tarr, Annawan High School; and Hannah Uphoff, Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond High School, were presented the grant during a surprise announcement at each school.

“Recognizing ag teachers highlights the outstanding efforts they put into their students and classrooms,” said Jennifer Smith, IAA Foundation development manager. “It’s just one way to reinforce that we are proud to support Illinois ag educators.”

Illinois Farm Bureau, through its charitable arm, the IAA Foundation, created the Illinois Agricultural Education Teacher Grant Program in recognition of the need and value that supporting a first-year agriculture teacher has.

Teachers were selected based on short- and long-term personal and agriculture program goals, as well as their agriculture program accomplishments.

By invitation, Illinois agricultural education teachers completing their first year in the classroom applied for this grant.

The amount of the grant payment will increase over the course of the teacher’s first five years in the classroom, up to $10,000 total in personal income, if they remain active as an agricultural education teacher in the state of Illinois. All told, the program will fund 32 teachers over a 12-year time frame.

More program information can be found online at www.iaafoundation.org under “Our Mission at Work.”