Agriculture was on full display during the Morgan County Board of Education’s Nov. 11 meeting.
Morgan County High School student Mason Nunn was recognized as the 2024 National FFA winner in grain production proficiency. Competing against more than one million FFA members across the United States, Nunn had the best product in grain production. He also won the grain production category at the regional and state levels.
The BOE also recognized school nutrition program director Kim Johnson and primary school STEM teacher Jennifer Haynes for receiving the 2023-24 Georgia Farm to School Award from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). Formerly known as the Golden Radish Award, the Georgia Farm to School Award highlights excellence in Farm to School programs.
Morgan County Charter Schools was recognized for its continued use of local farm-to-school items during the Annual School Nutrition Directors Conference, which was recently held in Athens.
During the BOE meeting, Johnson highlighted her partnership with Haynes, which she says has been instrumental in the school system’s farm-to-school efforts.
Haynes serves as Johnson’s liaison to the agriculture and STEM teachers, assists in gathering information about activities, lesson plans, field trips, and gardens, and has helped apply for a Farm to School Innovation Grant for use in the classroom.
Haynes also grows crops with her students in the primary school garden. Her class harvested 38 pounds of sweet potatoes from six plants this year.
The cafeteria then cooked them for a taste test with students.
The primary school also participated in Georgia Organics’ October Farm to School Month campaign. This year’s theme was ParSLAY the Day! Haynes taught a weeklong lesson about parsley to every primary school student. Students also grew parsley, which was used in the cafeteria food.
“[Students] love the garden,” Haynes said. “We’ve done strawberries, sweet potatoes, you name it. The kids say, ‘I want to try this,’ and we try it. They love to be able to go out there and just walk through the garden, pick and eat, so we do a lot of cherry tomatoes and herbs. They all want to smell it. It’s just very engaging.
“We’re just really thankful that we can do these kind of lessons and have the facility. This garden at our school has been going on for probably 20 years. Many teachers and PTO parents [and] kids have all worked through our garden. It’s always evolving to whatever we decide ... we use it all we can.”
Haynes said she also works with students on other projects like pumpkin harvesting and monarch butterfly conservation.