(FRANKFORT, KY) – Members of the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council learned about the first statewide Agriculture Education Week during their meeting on Feb. 25.
Ag Education Week, which will be March 17-21, is a chance to bring agriculture education to elementary classrooms. It will be an all-encompassing learning experience for students, will equip educators with ready-to-use lessons and foster community involvement to create hands-on learning opportunities in agriculture.
The program primarily targets elementary schools, which have fewer agriculture education opportunities than middle and high schools.
Bethany Mattingly, education and outreach director for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, shared some things not traditionally associated with agriculture that actually are, like the space station, wood products and zoo animals.
“The goal here is we have to think about agriculture as well beyond what’s on the dinner plate,” Mattingly said. “I used to tell my students as an ag teacher that you can’t go five seconds without somehow interacting with agriculture, because even if you pick up a pencil, the pencil is made of wood.”
Mattingly also informed students about how they can be more involved with agriculture and how schools can incorporate agricultural education into their lessons plans that week.
Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council members shared their ideas for Ag Education Week, including taking field trips to local farms.
“If possible, offer funding or grants to do projects like the ones mentioned,” said Graham Borden, a junior at Highlands High School (Fort Thomas Independent). “I know a lot a people have great ideas, but maybe just not the means to make it happen or available support from their school.”
Other students suggested bringing in professionals to talk about their agricultural careers.
“As a student from Louisville, I think having guest speakers come to high schools to talk about ag careers that go beyond farming could be cool,” said Isabella Edghill, a senior at duPont Manual High School (Jefferson County).
For more information on Agriculture Education Week, lesson plans and resources, visit the All In for Ag Education Week website.
KBE non-voting student member applications
The Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) is accepting applications through March 11 for the non-voting student member of the KBE.
To apply, KDE’s Director of Education Policy GlyptusAnn Grider Jones said students must be enrolled in a Kentucky public high school, reside in Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District and be a junior at the time of appointment to the KBE. The position is a one-year term from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.
Students can find out more information about the requirements by visiting the 2025-2026 KBE non-voting student online application.
The current non-voting student member, Preston Graham, a junior at Woodford County High School, said that being part of the KBE meetings is a valuable experience.
“(Board members have) been very gracious in accepting my continued feedback,” Graham said. “Just the time you get to spend connecting and talking to each of the board members after … just being able to have those conversations has been very beneficial and useful.”
In other business, Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher shared:
- Ashley Billiter, a senior at duPont Manual High School (Jefferson County), and Peter Jefferson, a senior at Henry Clay High School (Fayette County) and chair of the Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council, will be participating in Washington Week March 1-8 as part of the 63rd annual U.S. Senate Youth Program.
- The Commonwealth Education Continuum’s launch of the website org, which provides state-specific data about numerous career paths and education options. Fletcher said critiques from the Student Advisory Council helped improve the website.
- Sam Graham from Taylor County and Kim Frank from Covington Independent were honored with the Kentucky Education Support Staff Award.
- Details about the February KBE meeting.
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