After winning several statewide awards this summer, the Santa Maria High School Agriculture Department was selected as the Outstanding Secondary School Agricultural Education Program, a national award given by the National Association of Agriculture Educators (NAAE). It is the first time the department has been nationally recognized.
The award recognizes excellence in instructional strategies, experimental learning, community partnership, and the teachers’ professional development, according to a Santa Maria Joint Union High School District press release. The NAAE also acknowledged the department’s student-run Future Farmers of America organization.
Agriculture teacher and former department chair Marc DeBernardi said the department is founded on a three-part model that focuses on providing a hands-on learning experience. Students learn first in a classroom, then in student-run organizations and through personal projects.
“So what you learn in the classroom you use outside of school,” DeBernardi said. “It’s industry related. So here kids can really learn what’s out there in colleges and the industry and there won’t be such a huge transition when they get there.”
Santa Maria High School’s Agriculture Department—which consists of eight teachers and more than 1,000 students—offers 39 agriculture courses ranging from agriculture veterinary sciences to floral design. Each course, according to DeBernardi, is designed to help students learn by doing, while also making community connections with Santa Maria’s agricultural industry.
DeBernardi, who graduated from Santa Maria High School, said many of the department’s teachers graduated from schools in the area, giving them a breadth of knowledge about Central Coast agriculture.
Each student enrolled in the Agriculture Program is also a member of the California and National Future Farmers of America organization, where students learn leadership skills through agriculture education. Students in the program have countless opportunities to attend leadership development events and gain hands-on industry experiences.
Before the national award, the Santa Maria Agriculture Program was named South Coast Region Winner followed by the Outstanding Secondary School Agricultural Education Program State Winner. The program last won a state award in 1988. Santa Maria High School teachers were notified in August that the program was named the NAAE Region 1 winner, DeBernardi said, making it one of the top six agriculture departments in the nation.
Several Santa Maria agriculture teachers, including DeBernardi, will be recognized in December at the 2017 NAAE Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 7, 2017.
