News Release
For more information:
Julie Fritsch, NAAE Communications/Marketing Coordinator
Phone: (859) 257-2224
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 2014
Atwater High School Agricultural Education Program Selected for National Award
Nashville, Tenn. – The Atwater High School agricultural education program in Atwater, Calif., is one of only six agricultural education programs nationwide that received the National Association of Agricultural Educators Outstanding Middle/ Secondary Agricultural Education Program Award at the NAAE annual convention in Nashville, Tenn., Nov.
18-22.
Dave Gossman, Dan Flatt, Sam Meredith, Beth Williams, Jackie Ioimo, Natalie Borba, and Shelby West are the agriculture teachers at Atwater High School. During the 2013-2014 school year, Atwater became the largest single high school agriculture program in the nation, reachingmore half of the school’s 1,800 students. Most of the students at Atwater have no agriculture background, so the teachers offer courses that include diverse subjects likeagriculture government, power mechanics, agriculture earth science, and floral design. Instructors have also created articulated agriculture courses through which students can earn college credit at Merced Community College or Modesto Junior College.
The program is continually expanding facilities to increase student involvement, recently upgrading their horticulture nursery and grapevine lab and outdoor veterinary science lab. They have also added new wood construction and metal fabrication equipment.Additionally, a family of past Atwater graduates opened their family farm to allow students to house the livestock they raise for their supervised agriculture experiences. These kinds of community partnerships give students a wide variety of out-of-the-classroom experiences.
Atwater students also participate in about 20-30 agriculturerelated activities and community service opportunities each year.Floral design classes create Christmas wreaths which are given tostudents’ families and community members. Horticulture students hold a plant sale during the fall and spring semesters. In partnership with the Lion’s Club and Kops for Kids program, wood construction students build and donate nearly 300 wooden toy trucks.Recently, agriculture mechanics studentspartnered with Merced’s Castle Air Museum, building stairways for open cockpit days at the museum so visitors could more easily access to the planes.
“What sets this program apart is the true impact of the three circles – classroom instruction, FFA and supervised agriculture experience – and the true nature of how they are used to achieve student success,” said Darol Fishman, Merced Community College agricultural department coordinator. “A greenhouse facility, an exemplary agricultural mechanics shop and a livestock production facility all point in the direction of a comprehensive program that turns well prepared students for this great world in which we live.”
Each of the six regional Outstanding Middle/Secondary Program Award winners was recognized at the NAAE convention in Nashville. The Outstanding Middle/ Secondary Agricultural Education Program Award is sponsored by AGCO and Monsanto as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. NAAE is the professional association for agricultural educators. Its mission is “professionals providing agricultural education for the global community through visionary leadership, advocacy and service.” The NAAE office is located in Lexington, Ky.
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