programs
2021 Education Grants Funded
Agriculture Awareness $1,000
Burchard A. Dunn Elementary School - Martha Gill, New Gloucester
Empowering Our Youngest Teachers
Pre-K students may be our youngest learners, but they can be our newest teachers too! By giving Pre-K students experiences, responsibilities and tools we can empower them to share their learning. They can teach others the importance of agriculture and become our next generation of great Maine citizens!
Ralph M. Atwood Primary School - Jennifer McGee, Oakland
Ralph M. Atwood Primary School's "All Year Gardening at Atwood" Agricultural Awareness Grant Project will provide educational opportunities for students to increase their garden knowledge year round with the addition of Aerogardens in their classrooms. Students will learn daily where their food comes from and promote healthy eating choices.
Rangeley Lakes Regional School - Nini Christensen, Rangeley
Rangeley Lakes Regional School would like to extend the connection to our school garden by cooking. We are a K-12 school with one life skills kitchen that serves as a classroom and is not readily available for other classes, therefore a rolling cooking cart would enhance cooking options for students.
RSU34 Old Town Elementary School - Renee St. Peter, Old Town
The RSU 34 would like to partner with researchers from the University of Maine to plant and harvest potatoes at Roger's Farm. We have two field trips planned with four 4th and 5th grade classes to travel to the farm to participate and observe the planting and harvesting process.
Agriculture Awareness $2,000
Saccarappa School - Abi Tucker, Westbrook
Saccarappa Elementary School has a school-based gardening program which includes a beautiful outdoor space, greenhouse, and thirteen raised beds. As the next step in our garden plan, the food service team would like to request funding for a hydroponics growing system which would be centrally located in our school cafeteria.
RSU#19 Nokomis Regional Middle/High School - Keith Kelley, Newport
Harvesting, Processing and Producing our own wood from schools property to build student guitars and projects. In this project students will cut lumber to process using a portable saw mill, build a solar powered kiln to dry wood, laminate and plane the wood into blanks for guitar bodies and necks. Once created students will build their own electric guitars using this material.
Jonesport-Beal High School - Robin LaRochelle, Jonesport
The Aquaculture and Aquaponics Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes are a part of the CTE program offered to high school students in Washington County through Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology (CWCIT). These classes provide opportunities to explore careers in aquaculture, fisheries, wildlife, and agriculture through hands-on experiential learning.
Cumberland Farmers Club - Carolyn Small, Cumberland
Maine Ag Day at Cumberland Fair is a three-hour, hands-on experience for students to learn about Maine agriculture. Cumberland Fair provides grade-appropriate scavenger hunts that guide the visitors to various locations on the fairgrounds, observing animals, vegetables, demonstrations and all things agriculture.
Agriculture Leadership
Maine FFA Alumni Association - Darick Williams, Presque Isle
Maine FFA Alumni website and database is intended to bring FFA members, Advisor and the Alumni Association together for resources and help in the classroom.
Ashland District School - Janet Perry, Ashland
As we continue to be in very unusual times, we aren't able to travel as normal. However, Ashland FFA hopes to continue learning about agriculture outside the traditional classroom setting with any possible student trips - perhaps exploring agriculture within Maine; we also plan to attend the 2022 State FFA Convention.
School Garden and Greenhouse
Washington Academy - Robin Gautier, East Machias
Building on the success of a collaborative 3,000 sq ft garden, Washington Academy will continue to expand Community FEAST in partnership with Healthy Acadia and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. This student-driven model is addressing food security as students engage in STEM-related learning and community partnerships.
The Community School of Mount Desert Island - Dani Robbins, Mount Desert
The Community School of MDI fosters a sense of place, self, and community in children grades K-8 through place-based curriculum. The addition of a greenhouse has been a long-time dream for the school garden program, which provides students and families with opportunities to deepen their connection to local food systems.
Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education (BCOPE) - Lindsey Schortz, Belfast (written by the students)
BCOPE's Building a Sustainable Infrastructure project will allow our school community to work towards achieving two student set goals: addressing food insecurity in our community (specifically as it relates to our students and their families), and sustainability by strengthening and solidifying the infrastructure of the BCOPE Garden Program.
Maine Mountain Children's House - Bethany Mahar, Kingfield
This project will support a gardening program at Maine Mountain Children's House and expand associated local community gardens. The goal is to enhance an existing outdoor classroom and support a local CSA so children can grow and eat their own food while eating healthy and supporting local farms.
Stratton School - Erin Greatorex, Stratton
The Stratton School is excited to grow produce for the school cafeteria and use the new greenhouse as a classroom resource. As regular use of the greenhouse begins, the program needs key equipment to ensure the efficiency and longevity of the greenhouse.
MSAD59 Kennebec Valley Multiple Pathways Academy - Julie Wallace, Madison
Funding will be spent on the supplies to build 4 additional vertical grow systems and 3 grow lights for the greenhouse. The objectives for this project are to expand our ability to sell locally grown, fresh lettuce to local schools and local restaurants; to add straight hydroponics systems to our curriculum so students can compare them with aquaponics and soil growing; and to strengthen a second agriculture business model for students to have hands-on experiences in a variety of agricultural careers.
Chelsea Elementary School - Sarah Lavallee, Chelsea
Chelsea Elementary School is in the beginning stages of creating a garden space for hands-on learning opportunities. The Maine Ag in the Classroom Grant will support building our school's first raised garden beds and provide the finances to purchase the materials to create and maintain the space.
Roberts Farm/Oxford Hills School District - Sarah Kersley, South Paris
The Oxford Hills School District has an experiential learning program at Roberts Farm with great agricultural infrastructure including six greenhouses and a few dozen raised beds. The "Roberts Farm Native Pollinator Project" will expand the agricultural science investigations for students and will encourage native pollinators to support our crops.
Captain Albert Stevens School (RSU71) - Lisa Brita, Belfast
The Captain Albert Stevens School will create a literary garden where the plantings represent our favorite children's books. The literary garden setting will provide teachers and students with a setting to extend learning from the classroom to the garden campus.
Sanford Middle School - Diana Allen, Sanford
The old 18'x32' greenhouse turned into "new" middle school aquaponics "green room." Tilapia "poop water" runs through a modified gutter system into a greenhouse growing plants aquaponically! The other side of the greenhouse plants grow in the traditional format, with soil. Creating student opportunities to experiment while learning to grow healthy food!
Statewide Agriculture Organization
Maine School Garden Network - Susan Joy Sager, Augusta
Maine School Garden Network seeks to deepen our connections in the vast communities of Maine, offering an opportunity to bring together our 100+ school garden coordinators from across the state, ensuring all regions with educational gardens feel connected with our organization, other school gardens and, overall, the resources and support they need to thrive.
Maine Dairy & Nutrition Council/Maine Dairy Promotion Board - Jami Badershall, Augusta
While dairy farming has been in Maine for years, there are some exciting new developments in the industry, especially around sustainability and nutrition. Through live farm tours and follow up activities and lessons, we hope to bring some of this emerging science into Maine classrooms.
ReTreeUS - Richard Hodges, Auburn
As one way to celebrate 10 years of ReTreeUS planting orchards in schools, ReTreeUS, with the support of Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, will be working with 60 existing Maine school orchards to assess current health and needs to strengthen these outdoor classroom spaces.