Kristyn Keriazes’ students at Global Impact STEM Academy welcomed Jonah Johnson to their middle school science class. As a kick off to a unit on “Why are Careers in Agriculture Important?”, Johnson came to talk about his career as an agronomist with Sunrise Co-op.
Johnson shared about the importance of being an informed consumer and the practices that he evaluates in his field. Keriazes said her students were interested in the uses of soybeans in commercial products. One student in particular loved talking with him about the uses and advances of CRISPR. “His overall understanding of agricultural sciences was interesting, and talking to him about GMOs and CRISPR was fun. I was able to add to my knowledge and also have a better understanding of some of the new technologies in agriculture.”
Keriazes, along with other GISA teachers Amy Jo Henry and Lindsay Heintz, participated in an externship at Sunrise over the summer. As part of their experience, the trio created a case study. Keriazes’ students will be using this case study as inspiration, creating their own experiment by growing plants that will use an environmental or nutritional factor of their choice as an independent variable in growth.
