I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend the National Agriculture In The Classroom convention. I was fully immersed into a community of like- minded people that shared the same passions for agriculture and teaching. Attending this convention opened my eyes to how many different ways there are to support the future of agriculture. I spent my time networking with other teachers that are involved with NAITC from all over the country. These teachers, whether they had taught for 30 plus years or if they had just started, all had loads of advice for me on my journey to becoming a teacher. They showed me pathways to help keep agriculture a central idea in my future classroom in many ways that I did not even know existed until attending this convention. I collected copious amounts of teaching resources throughout the week as well.

Attending workshops showed me many different ways I can implement the resources and lesson plans in my future classroom. They taught me how I can take any of their provided lessons and tweak them to apply to any grade level. Not only did I make friends from all across the country, I also had the opportunity to connect with a group from Ohio. The Ohio Farm Bureau sponsored a dinner for the attendees from Ohio to get together, collaborate on our shared experiences of the conference as well as make connections that will last a lifetime! Seeing the kinds of projects that other teachers in my area are working on gave me great ideas and even better connections that I feel I can reach out to with any questions I come across. I cannot put into words all of the lessons and experiences that I took away from this opportunity, but I can say I am beyond grateful for this opportunity and I am looking forward to bringing lessons I learned from NAITC to my future students.

FOOTNOTE: We are proud to say that each year, the Summit County Farm Bureau sponsors a member to attend the NAITC convention. This convention, which changes location annually throughout the United States, is held in early summer. If you are interested in attending in the future, be sure to reach out to our Organizational Director, Lindsay Tournoux, summit@ofbf.org.