GrowNextGen has been awarded the Ohio Association of Agricultural Education’s (OAAE) 2017 Outstanding Cooperation award. This annual award recognizes organizations, agribusiness companies, and others who have given outstanding support to agricultural education.
Stephanie Jolliff, OAAE Award Committee Chair, said, “There is a necessity in today’s classroom for accurate, rigorous curriculum related to agriculture. Educators appreciate unbiased, reliable, cutting edge resources the meet the needs of the America’s flourishing ag industry. GrowNextGen is responsive to teacher’s curriculum requests and truly cares about advancing young people’s educational experiences with meaningful work.”
This award focuses on cooperation between industry and education, a linchpin of GrowNextGen’s efforts. GrowNextGen counts many agriculture teachers among its teacher leaders, provides annual professional development for agriculture education majors who are preparing to enter the workforce, and offers Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources lessons and resources on its online community (grownextgen.org).
Ohio Soybean Council’s Director of Research and Education Tom Fontana accepted the award at the OAAE awards banquet at The Ohio State University. Funding for GrowNextGen comes from the Ohio Soybean Checkoff and Ohio’s soybean farmers, who have been committed to education outreach for 19 years and counting!
From the award ceremony program: “OAAE is excited to recognize GrowNextGen for their dedication to serving the needs of educators. There is a necessity in today’s classroom for accurate, cutting edge resources that meet the needs of America’s flourishing ag industry. GrowNextGen is responsive to teachers’ curriculum requests and truly cares about advancing young people’s educational experiences with meaningful work. We are proud to honor GrowNextGen with the 2017 OAAE Outstanding Cooperation Award.”
