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Ida teacher named MFB’s Ag Educator of the Year

An elementary educator says free resources have helped her include agricultural themes in her classroom.

Ida Elementary School STEM teacher Annalyse Auxter tells Brownfield, “We’re focused about 50 percent of the time on our agriculture lessons and seeing things grow.”

“A big part of STEM is being able to test theories, try new things, and experiment with different things,” she says.

Auxter says she connected with her local Farm Bureau during her first year of teaching and has been using Agriculture in the Classroom curriculum in Young 5s through fifth grade classes for the past three years.

“Taking it to a career-based path where there are so many opportunities,” she shares. “Now in farming instead of just needing to be able to plant the seeds, we have drones that are flying, we’ve got mechanics that need to help repair the machinery, we’ve got programmers who are helping design new programs.”

Auxter was recently selected as Michigan Farm Bureau’s 2024 Educator of the Year as part of National Ag Week.

AUDIO: Ida Elementary School STEM teacher Annalyse Auxter