Hannah McAuliffe grew up a country girl working on hay farms in Klamath County, Ore.

But her career path was changed by Meghan Miller, her agriculture teacher at Lost River High School.

“She always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. She pushed me to enter contests I never would have thought of doing,” McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe gained a variety of skills and self confidence and decided to become an ag teacher herself.

Fast forward a few years and McAuliffe is now in her third year at North Lake School near Silver Lake, Ore., in rural Lake County.

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On Oct. 26, she was named the 2024 Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Educator of the Year.

McAuliffe hopes she can inspire some of her own students.

“We need ag teachers because a lot of our students are lacking agricultural literacy. They don’t know where their food comes from,” she said.

Teens help teach

McAuliffe was hired as the elementary school electives teacher at North Lake and was encouraged to focus on agriculture at the one building school district.

Her teaching partner, Chad Waldron, the high school ag teacher, mentored her and suggested she involve teens in the program.

So McAuliffe developed a high school ag teaching assistant course.

Teens create their own lessons and teach them to younger students, learning about agriculture and gaining education experience.

First blue banner

Waldron was close to retirement and knew he needed someone to carry on the school’s FFA and ag programs.

He died from cancer, but not before seeing the North Lake FFA chapter win first place for agricultural advocacy at the Oregon FFA state convention in March.

It was the organization’s first blue banner at the state convention and Waldron was proud of the accomplishment, McAuliffe said.

“We were up on stage with some of the most successful chapters in the state,” she said.

She realized she was making a positive impact on her students and was meant to be in the profession.

A K-12 ag teacher

Waldron’s position remains open. “We hope to get a second ag teacher, but right now, it’s just me,” McAuliffe said.

She teaches children from kindergarten through high school seniors.

McAuliffe makes sure agricultural concepts are part of daily learning for elementary students.

She also teaches a high school animal science class and runs a meat lab at the school.

North Lake has a small greenhouse for elementary students and just put in a bigger greenhouse for high schoolers, but most of the instruction takes place in classrooms. “We can get outside when it’s nice,” McAuliffe said.

Besides inspiration from Miller and Waldron’s mentoring, McAuliffe credited her success to an internship at Oregon Ag in the Classroom while she was attending Oregon State University and to administrators who understand the importance of agricultural education.

About the organization

McAuliffe’s award was announced at Oregon Ag in the Classroom’s Fall Harvest Dinner and Auction at OSU.

The nonprofit is dedicated to promoting agriculture education in K-12 schools and teaching students about farming, ranching and natural resources.

The organization reached nearly 308,000 students in the 2023-24 school year thanks to more than 5,000 partner educators and 860 volunteers.