Louisville, KY (December 8, 2012) – Contessa Harris, of Madison County, is the recipient of Kentucky Farm Bureau’s 2012 Excellence in Ag Literacy Award. The announcement was made at the organization’s 93rd annual meeting, held at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville.

KFB’s Excellence in Ag Literacy Award is designed to recognize and reward teachers who excel in their efforts to incorporate agricultural concepts throughout their core curriculum. Nominations were made for a variety of pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teachers who use their classrooms to help students comprehend the value of agriculture as it impacts their personal well-being economically, environmentally and socially.

For winning the award, Harris received $500 cash and an expense-paid trip to the National Ag in the Classroom Conference in Minneapolis, MN, June 25-28, 2013, where she will represent Kentucky in the national competition.

Identified in her letters of recommendation as a teacher who keeps students “truly engaged and interested in the lessons they are completing… and learning content that is relevant to the real world,” Harris integrates experiences from life on her own farm into scenarios that her first grade students can understand. She recently expanded the responsibility of bringing these lessons into her own classroom and planned out a 2-1/2 week agricultural unit for the teachers of all five first grade classrooms at her school, Glenn Marshall Elementary, in Richmond.

“My students may only be six years old, but I am confident they know more about agriculture than most adults,” Harris said in her application for the award. “I am planting this seed in them, hoping they will use their agriculture knowledge to show adults the way of life for a farmer.”

Harris has taught first grade at Glenn Marshall Elementary since 2006. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern Kentucky University and is National Board Certified.

With nearly 500,000 member families statewide, Kentucky Farm Bureau is the state’s largest general farm organization. Approximately 1,700 members attended KFB’s 93rd annual meeting, December 5-8, to recognize this year’s individual and organizational achievements as well as adopt policy for 2013.