Sycamore High School agricultural program wins national award

SYCAMORE, Ill. — Sycamore High School’s agricultural education program and its educators received national recognition.

The program, which includes technology education, received the 2022 National Association of Agricultural Educators’ Outstanding Middle and Secondary School Agricultural Education Program award, according to a news release.

Sycamore High School’s agricultural educators Christian Thurwanger and Kara Poynter led the program during 2021-2022 school year and were informed of the award in August, according to the release.

The pair received the award at the recent National Association of Agricultural Educators convention.

Those who bestowed the award said Thurwanger and Poynter worked diligently to develop connections and partnerships with local agribusinesses in Sycamore.

According to a release from Sycamore Community School District 427, the award “highlights teachers and programs” that integrate core academic instruction into their program and use new technology to teach students.

“It also recognizes teachers who construct their programs to meet the needs of the community, school and students,” according to the release.

Qualities that organizers said set Sycamore High School’s agricultural education program apart were the avenues students received to learn.

That included varied activities, learning opportunities in livestock facilities, a woodworking shop, a greenhouse and what officials said was a 40-acre land laboratory.

Poynter spoke to the Sycamore school board back in August and thanked them for the opportunities afford to the program.

She said the new classes and programs the department has implemented during her tenure have always been created with the students in mind.

The National Association of Agricultural Educators has more than 8,000 members throughout the country and gives out annual awards to distinctive agricultural programs and educators in six different regions of the United States, according to the release.

Those awards include outstanding early career teacher award, the outstanding agricultural education teacher award, the outstanding postsecondary agriculture program award and the outstanding middle and secondary school agricultural education program award.