Selina Warren, a kindergarten teacher at Kingfield Elementary School, is nationally recognized for her innovative integration of agriculture into education, receiving the National Excellence in Teaching About Agriculture Award June 2024 in Utah. Submitted photo

KINGFIELD — Selina Warren, a kindergarten teacher at Kingfield Elementary School, has been honored as one of only eight teachers across the nation to receive the National Excellence in Teaching About Agriculture Award this year. Sponsored by the National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization [NAITCO], the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), and Farm Credit, this award recognizes educators who creatively incorporate agricultural concepts into their curriculum.

For 14 years, Warren has been a dedicated proponent of incorporating agriculture into education. She has created two school gardens, collaborated with community partners for garden events, and guided other teachers in her county and state in developing their own school garden programs.

Warren was honored at the 2024 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, “Agriculture Elevated,” held June 24–27 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In a phone interview with The Franklin Journal July 8, Warren said she just received the award the last week of June.

The National Agriculture in the Classroom conference recognizes a handful of educators every year for national awards, explained Warren. She said most states recognize an agriculture in the classroom teacher of the year award yearly, which is what she was awarded in 2023 from Maine. Then the state winners apply for the national excellence in teaching agriculture award, the most recent award she received.

This is a view of the summer garden at Kingfield Elementary School in Kingfield. Courtesy Photo/Selina Warren

Warren explained the rigorous application process for the award. “It was pretty exciting,” she said. “I had to apply, it was a rather lengthy application process. You had to submit an example lesson of an agriculture lesson you have designed, pictures from your program, a narrative on how you integrate ag into your classroom or school and create a slideshow that connected your work to all of the National Agriculture Literacy Outcomes [NALO], national standards for teaching agriculture.” She submitted in January and found out late March/early April that she was getting the award.

Reflecting on her experience, Warren said last year she went to the conference in Orlando and was recognized as the Maine state teacher of the year. Warren said she feels lucky to have gone to the conference two years in a row.

“It was an amazing conference, super awesome,” she added. “It was quite an honor, they call you up onstage and do a slideshow of your program with all the pictures you submitted. It was hard not to cry when you see that up on a big screen.”

Warren’s journey into agricultural education is unique. “What is so special for me is that I am not a generational farmer,” she said. “I grew up in a suburban, urban area in Florida. That is what is so cool about this recognition. A lot of people at the conference have grown up on farms as generational farmers; I came at this a little late in my life.”

She said it has really been the joy that keeps her in education. A classroom teacher is not an easy job, she added. “There have been times in my 15–year career as a classroom teacher I wondered if I wanted to keep doing this,” Warren noted. “But those moments in the outdoor garden and classroom when we are outside in the sun, getting our hands in the soil, I know that is why I still do this.”

Reflecting on her career Warren said, “I have been teaching 15 years next year,” she said. Warren said she has been in Kingfield 11 years, and this is the 10th growing season. She said she feels pressure about the next harvest meal to make it even bigger than last year. She is hoping to have live music. Last year they had an agriculture fair along with the meal.

“The funny thing about gardening is that the school year doesn’t align with the gardening season,” Warren said. She said they start gardening at the end of the year and wrap up in the fall. “We took that into great consideration when we authored The Growing Gardener’s curriculum through the Greater Franklin Food Council,” she added.

Warren emphasized the importance of community support in her efforts. “The community has been super supportive,” she said. “We don’t have a budget line in the school budget for the garden. We have to raise money to do the things we want to do.”

“Selectman Kim Jordan was on the school board when I first started this program,” Warren said. “She was supportive in donating supplies, and Jordan Lumber still donates seeds every fall that I use the next spring. We have had lumber donations from Stratton Lumber and lots of community support.”

She also highlighted the growth and impact of the program. When they started this program, it was an after-school club. About 30 kids signed up the first year, and 60 the following year. Warren said they were able to move from an afternoon club to embedding the garden into the school day. “That was really important because I wasn’t able to provide transportation for an after-school club, she said. “Moving it to our community time was a game changer; it made it so all kids were involved in the program.”

Warren’s efforts have extended beyond the classroom, fostering a sense of community and a connection to nature among her students. She said one of the comments repeated at the conference was that agriculture is the one industry that affects our lives multiple times per day every single day. It isn’t just big farms and livestock she said. “From fibers to large and small gardens and knowing where your food comes from and how to process healthy food on a small scale is really important for health and wellness,” Warren said.

Warren praised the beauty of the Kingfield Elementary School. “The Kingfield School is just gorgeous,” she said. “The garden, biodiversity field, and the mountains in the distance.” She said they use the land to learn about their local environment and grow food.

Warren also credited local support for the success of the school’s biodiversity project. She said she has to give a shout out to Betty Ann Listowich of Norpine Landscape. “If you drive by the school, you will see the garden, pavilion, shed, greenhouse and a beautiful biodiversity field.”

They have gone through two different phases with their biodiversity project. In spring 2022, Listowich helped seed the entire field. She said they have native plants growing there now. In 2023, they did phase two which included planted shrubs.

Warren shared touching success stories of students inspired by the program. She said she always sends recipes home that they make in class. Some of the kids come back to class and say they tried the recipe at home and it was so good. She said some students have also said they started their own small gardens at home with the knowledge they acquired from the school garden.

Selina Warren, Kingfield Elementary School kindergarten teacher of Kingfield, is recognized nationally for excellence in teaching about agriculture. Courtesy Photo/Selina Warren

“I started in Skowhegan when I was teaching there, and those kids are adults now,” she said. “In 2023, when I was recognized at the state level by Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, I had a student from the first garden club I ever started in 2010 email me. She said she was at college studying education and agriculture and got a job at the Alfond Youth Center gardens and was inspired by the garden club when she was a kid. Those stories are pretty amazing.”

Warren also acknowledged the importance of community partnerships in her work. She said Healthy Community Coalition of Franklin County and their staff educators are amazing people.

“Cooking with kids is a lot of work,” Warren said. “To have trained nutritionists come and give cooking and nutrition lessons takes that off my plate and I can focus my energy in the garden or grant writing.” She said the local Lions Club, local Masons, and Parent Volunteer Group have helped purchase a mobile cooking cart and appliances. This fall they will use the cart for cooking lessons. And they will have electricity in the pavilion so they can cook outside.

“The Greater Franklin Food Council really supports us and Laura Hoeft, Franklin County’s School Garden Coach, has allowed us to grow,” Warren noted.

Despite not using social media, Warren appreciates when people share what is happening with her program. “We are such a small community, and it just shows that even in a small community with limited resources, big things can happen.”