By STEVE BINDER

Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Kathryn King, Grace Foster, Jacalyn Meisner and Brittany Bosecker are the first trailblazers when it comes to new agriculture teacher grants in Illinois, and they are truly thankful this holiday season.

The foursome was announced last month as the inaugural group of grant recipients under a new program advocated by the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) and its charitable fundraising arm, the IAA Foundation. These teachers were selected based on their love of the industry and their short- and long-term goals as teachers.

All four are first-year teachers and are agriculture instructors; Foster is from Rushville-Industry High School; King teaches at Taylorville High School; Meisner is an instructor at Blue Ridge High School in Farmer City; and Bosecker teaches at Red Hill High School in Bridgeport.

The Farm Bureau and its foundation provided the initial seed money for the grants, which begin at $2,000 the first year and can increase up to $10,000 during five years as long as teachers continue to meet certain goals and continue teaching agriculture.

Illinois, as well as many Midwest states, have faced a shortage of college graduates who seek to enter the teaching field for agriculture, in part because the ag industry overall offers a wide variety of higher-paying positions.

Susan Moore, director of the IAA Foundation, said interest in the new grants was high.

“It was really a challenge to narrow down the selection because every new teacher we heard from is working so hard in the classroom,” Moore said. “You can really get a sense of the drive they have to educate and inspire others to understand and explore the world as it relates to agriculture.”

While the Farm Bureau provided seed money for the Illinois Agriculture Education Teacher Grant Program, the foundation administers the program and is seeking funding partners to meet a goal of providing grants to 32 first-year teachers during the next 12 years, Moore said.

IFB provided seed money, the IAA Foundation is administering the program and actively seeking more funding partners to continue adding new groups of first-year teachers. The goal is to fund 32 teachers during a 12-year period.

Foster, who also is her school’s FFA advisor, said she hasn’t decided how she will spend her grant, but it is likely some of the money will cover supplies.

“The application process included short- and long-term goals for my agriculture program here at Rushville-Industry, as well as personal professional goals for the future,” Foster said.

“I believe they chose to create a personal income grant because of what we are seeing with many new ag teachers,” she continued. “Because a degree in agriculture education is fairly universal in the field of agriculture, many seek a career within the agriculture industry where they can make more money as compared to a teaching salary. I think that by extending the grant over five years, they provide an incentive for teachers to get through the tough years and remain committed to agriculture education.”