By Connor Harbit

Ashley Vanden Bush, a third-grade teacher at St. John Bosco in Sturgeon Bay, has been awarded the Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Teacher Award as part of their “Ag in the Classroom” program. Vanden Bush, who was unaware that she was going to be receiving the award, repeatedly demonstrated a focus in using agriculture resources in her lesson plans. She had also been active at volunteer and teacher trainings, and had even given a presentation at Ag in the Classroom’s national conference. Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Darlene Arneson said Vanden Bush has continually helped educate children about the importance of agriculture when it was not required of her to do so.

Vanden Bush will next be Wisconsin’s nominee for the National Excellence in Teaching Agriculture Award and will also receive a $500 scholarship toward attending the 2019 Ag in the Classroom conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, next June. Ag in the Classroom is an initiative from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau that seeks to work with existing curricula to further educate students K-12 on the role of agriculture within the economy and society.