Rockingham educator named Virginia AITC Teacher of the Year

Lauren Arbogast of Rockingham County has been named Virginia’s Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year.

The award recognizes a Virginia educator for efforts in incorporating agriculture into his or her core curriculum.

“Lauren really stood out to us as an excellent educator with her integration of realfarm life examples in her classroom on a daily basis,” said Tammy Maxey, AITC senior education program coordinator.

Arbogast teaches preschool at W. H. Keister Elementary School in Harrisonburg and integrates agriculture into not only her own classroom but also the entire school. She established a Farming in the City Day to increase student awareness of agriculture and has participated in several AITC professional development events.

Arbogast is a member of the Rockingham County Farm Bureau and that organization’s Women’s Committee and the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers. She and her husband, Brian, and their two sons, Brandon and Jackson, live on a multi-generational farm where they produce beef, poultry and crops. She blogs about her life on the farm at paintthetownag.com.

She will receive a scholarship to attend the 2014 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in June in Hershey, Pa., and will be encouraged to apply for the National Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year recognition.