Glenwood City Agriculture Department awarded “Ag in the Classroom” Grant

GLENWOOD CITY Elementary students will now have the opportunity to learn how things grow thanks to an “Ag in the Classroom” Grant from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation. The matching funds of $450 recently helped to purchase a hydroponic garden healthy learning center. Above elementary students, from left to right, Haydyn Morrow, Erik Anderson, Miles Hillman, Andrew Yang, Mira Hutter and Iszy Blaser investigated the hydroponic garden which is located inside the main elementary school entrance. —photo submitted

MADISON – The Glenwood City Agriculture Department was recently awarded a $450 grant for a Healthy Learning Center.

The grant is part of  the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation’s Ag in the Classroom program which has awarded nearly $9,300 to schools and organizations to expand agricultural literacy.

Groups, schools and organizations can apply for up to $500 as part of the Ag in the Classroom’s matching grant program to support their project, provided they have a source of matching funds.

The Glenwood City agriculture department has developed a mobile hydroponic garden learning center related to growing plants, providing food and making healthy choices. The system will be shared between the high school and elementary school students. The hydroponic garden learning center teaches high school students the skills related to education and mentoring while giving elementary students a fun way to learn how food is grown.

Glenwood City School District agriculture education teacher Sean Vanderwaal submitted the grant.

Betsy Haltinner, Glenwood City Elementary principal, said that the district is excited about this opportunity and that students would begin using it this summer.

There were 21 other matching grant recipients across the state.

Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom program provides teachers and K-12 students with an understanding of how their food is produced. The program seeks to work within existing curricula to provide basic information on our nation’s largest industry: agriculture. Wisconsin’s Ag in the Classroom program is carried out by a network of local educators, volunteers and representatives from agricultural organizations and businesses. The goal of the program is to help students gain a greater awareness of the role agriculture plays in the economy and society, so that they may become citizens who support wise agricultural policies.