Thirty-four elementary and high school teachers from across the river region came together at East St. John High School for the USDA’s “Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC)” annual workshop. Lynda Danos, who is the AITC State Coordinator and a Louisiana Farm Bureau employee, and local educators made the presentations during the workshop. The attendees represented St. John, Jefferson, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James and Tangipahoa parishes.

“My territory is the whole state,” said Danos. “As a farmer myself, I am the voice of rural America.” AITC is an organization dedicated to engaging teachers and students in understanding the importance of agriculture in the world at large and in their own lives. Each year, the AITC program hosts a series of teacher workshops across the state to provide educators with material needed to integrate agriculture into their existing curriculum. The lesson plans shared during the workshops support the teachers’ current curriculum and correlate to state standards. They are also multi-curricular, meaning they pertain to all subject areas and grade levels.

Recreating the crawfish’s natural habitat, (left to right) Jennifer Williams, Grace Vining, and Margaret Perret glue brown-colored cotton balls to a styrofoam bowl and toilet paper holder.