Four Oaks Middle School’s agricultural educator, Victoria Gwaltney, was granted one of the Governor’s Educator Discovery Awards for the 2019-2020 school year. The Governor’s Educator Discovery Award recognizes teachers that incorporate work-based learning into their classrooms. Work-based learning creates deeper connections between classroom curriculum and future careers.
Work-based learning is a powerful tool for engaging, and motivating students. These experiences generate a more well-rounded education improving a students’ chance for future success. Work-based learning strengthens the state’s talent pipeline by providing North Carolinians with career awareness, career exploration, and real-world career experience to build employability and technical skills.
Gwaltney said, “Students see the value in our curriculum, FFA Career Development Events, and Supervised Agricultural Experiences because they are so directly applicable to specific jobs and industries.”
Ms. Gwaltney will attend an award reception at the Governor’s Mansion later this month. The program will provide a stipend of up to $1,000 for Gwaltney to attend the Ag in the Classroom National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 2020. At the conference she will attend traveling workshops and farm tours to Utah agricultural operations, onsite workshops that demonstrate how to use agricultural resources to contextualize standards in reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and nutrition, and hear from dynamic keynote speakers.
