National Excellence in Teaching Agriculture Award Winners from Oklahoma
2024: Jennifer Crosthwait
Jennifer Crosthwait, a kindergarten teacher at Skyline Elementary in Stillwater, has been selected for the 2024 National Excellence in Teaching About Agriculture Award. Crosthwait is one of eight teachers across the United States who received the honor.
2021: Tammy Will
An eighth through 12th grade teacher of chemistry, physical science, STEM, and general science at Morrison High School in Morrison, OK, develops and presents lessons and experiments on the chemistry of biodiesel made from soybeans, soil chemistry, the science and technology behind identifying and understanding GMOs and non-GMO food items, among many other agricultural concepts.
2020: Christie Puckett
A third through sixth grade science teacher at Maysville Public School in Maysville, OK who uses a school garden and a study of the origins of the fruits and vegetables grown in it to help students 'travel' to different stations in the garden to learn about that particular region of the world in which the crop is grown and the land forms, water bodies and climate specific to it.
2019: Johnnie Keel
Johnnie Keel, a math and gifted teacher at Truman Elementary in Oklahoma City, OK, whose third, fourth and fifth graders research farm equipment designs online and build miniature versions of this machinery using Legos and participate in a STEM Day to learn about chemistry and genetics in agriculture, among other projects.
2017: Amber Bales
Oklahoma third grade teacher Amber Bales who ties Oklahoma agriculture to her language arts, math, science and social studies instruction by putting a local twist on the story Stone Soup, involving her students in their school's Farm to School program and planting cabbage and pea plants.
2016: Lisa Storm
Oklahoma third grade teacher Lisa Storm who teaches her students Oklahoma history using developments in agriculture as the theme, healthy eating habits using cooking activities and local agriculture by visiting activity stations at 'Land Run Day.'
2010: Audrey Harmon
An enthusiastic kindergarten teacher and a strong voice for agriculture, Audrey Harmon wants her students to know that farmers don't just care for their farm animals; they care for the people of America, too!
2009: Sue Kirk
Sue Kirk wants her first grade students to not only be literate, but agriculturally literate! The environment she creates feels like being on the farm, with a Big Red Barn at center focus. The Listening Loft is on top the barn so students feel they are in a hay loft. Bronco Corral is where small group learning occurs.
2002: Vicki Richey
Each year Vicki's students design and make a quilt as part of a "Cotton to Calico" unit, in association with a unit on Oklahoma history. The unit covers every one of the core subjects students in the 3rd grade are required to master in Oklahoma.