ALBANY, Ore. — Stephanie Madison, a fourth-grade teacher at Myers Elementary School in Salem, has been recognized as the 2021 Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Educator of the Year.

Madison was honored during the organization’s annual Fall Harvest Dinner and Auction Oct. 30 at the Linn County Expo Center in Albany, Ore.

Oregon AITC is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting agriculture education in K-12 schools, and teaching students about farming, ranching and natural resources. The organization provides free resources for teachers to integrate agricultural themes into their lesson plans.

The Educator of the Year award acknowledges teachers such as Madison for finding creative ways to incorporate agriculture in their classrooms.

Madison’s passion for agriculture stems from her childhood raising animals on her family’s hobby farm, and her participation in 4-H. She is an avid gardener — harvesting more than 100 pounds of produce each year from her home — and continues to volunteer with 4-H as a group leader and llama superintendent.

“Sharing my love of agriculture in the classroom comes naturally,” Madison said.

Madison has received more than 30 grants to conduct agriculture-themed projects with her students, including experiments with seeds in which they tested germination rates. They also collected and compared data and sent students home with plants for their backyard and windowsill gardens.

Another highlight for Madison’s students involved borrowing an egg incubator from Oregon AITC’s lending library, and watching as baby chicks hatched from their shells.

Madison “provides unique learning opportunities to increase agricultural literacy among students in her classroom and the community,” said Jessica Jansen, Oregon AITC executive director.

“It is wonderful to have a teacher who inspires students through cross-disciplinary lessons with agriculture and natural resources education: literacy, math, science and sensory experiences,” Jansen said.