CHS基金会庆祝75年回馈农业
CHS基金会支持所有年龄段学生的领导组织. FFA engages students in grades 7 to 12, 而AFA则为大学生提供领导力发展机会.
Cassandra Valdez was unsure about her future when she joined the Leader Fellowship program through Agriculture Future of America (AFA).
“I started the program in 2020, when I was hopeless and clueless,默塞德社区学院和加州州立大学说, Fresno student. “The pandemic had just started, and I needed something to help me continue to grow professionally as we all stood still from home, but I didn’t know how to do that. As an ag major, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to get involved in the industry side while still being connected to my ag education roots.”
通过奖学金项目，瓦尔迪兹开始看到农业方面的其他职业机会. “我在大学里只知道有一条教室路线, 因此，我很感激通过AFA奖学金接触到其他选择,” she says.
支持瓦尔迪兹和其他新兴农业领袖是CHS基金会的使命, which was established in 1947 by the founding members of CHS to support rural communities and the future of agriculture. Since then, the CHS Foundation has been devoted to developing the next generation of ag leaders through cooperative education, university partnerships and ag leadership programs.
Providing opportunities
Throughout the CHS Foundation’s first 75 years, strong partnerships have emerged to give all young people the opportunity to become leaders in agriculture and further their ag education.
Starting almost 20 years ago, the CHS Foundation and AFA have shared a goal of educating the next generation of agricultural leaders. Since 2004, CHS基金会一直是AFA最大的支持者, funding programming, 鼓励AFA董事会成员并提供会议空间.
Funded by the CHS Foundation, the AFA Leader Fellowship program pairs AFA student teachers like Valdez with trained industry professionals to coach them through personal development and career exploration.
“Through the fellowship program, I chose a mentor who would guide me in this two-year journey of developing a series of leadership competencies,” says Valdez. “They helped me see areas of growth where I could develop as a young professional and agriculturalist and create a development plan that would commit me to my goals.”
The CHS Foundation also partners with organizations focused on cultivating learning and career opportunities that value diverse thinking, voices and backgrounds. That commitment was the driving force behind the Foundation’s relationship with Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) that began in 2010.
“对学生来说，在农业领域看到多种职业道路是有益的,” says Ebony Webber, MANRRS chief operations officer. “能够去参加一个全国性的会议是一种变革. Having the financial support to go to college and major in these careers is equally transformative.”
作为初级MANRRS黄金计划的主要支持者, CHS基金会为Going for Gold奖学金提供资金, 支持计划学习农业相关或STEM(科学)的高中生, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields of study.
Building the future of ag
FFA和4-H是农业未来的代名词, CHS基金会为这两个组织提供了近60年的支持.
目前，明尼苏达州40%的FFA学生来自经济困难的家庭. With financial support from the CHS Foundation, 明尼苏达FFA已经能够提供更多的奖学金，为这些学生创造机会, 包括帮助他们参加明尼苏达州FFA大会. Each year, the convention hosts more than 5,000 students, teachers and supporters from around the state.
“With the CHS Foundation, it goes much deeper than just financial support,” says Val Aarsvold, executive director of the Minnesota FFA Foundation. “这是澳门皇冠赌场平台社区和农业需要什么的对话, 然后围绕这些目标和需求建立我们的项目.”
The CHS Foundation brings the same mission of providing equal opportunity into its partnership with 4-H, which serves 6 million youth annually, including youth participating in 5.6 million STEM projects and 3.1 million ag projects each year. “Those are huge numbers of young people who are finding their spark and pursuing that all the way through their 4-H career,” says Heather Elliott, National 4-H Council chief development officer. “它为具备团队合作等技能的年轻人建立了一条劳动力储备管道, communication and leadership.”
The CHS Foundation has committed $1 million to the National 4-H Council to support the 4-H True Leaders in Equity Program and What I Wish People Knew (WIWPK) storytelling platform. 4-H真正的公平领袖项目将创造超过1个,在当地社区开展了000个由青年领导的公平和包容项目. The WIWPK platform empowers youth to lift their voices and share their stories and passion for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Boost for innovation
At universities around the country, students and educators are engaging with new technologies and practices that will impact the future of agriculture. “The CHS Foundation supports this important work because new thinking will be the engine that drives agriculture forward,” says Nanci Lilja, president of the CHS Foundation.
在其他高等教育支持中，CHS基金会有:
- Helped North Dakota State University establish the Center for Trading and Risk Management to prepare students for the complex world of agricultural commodity trading
- 支持南达科他州立大学瑞文精密农业中心, the first university to offer a B.S. degree in precision agriculture
- 与明尼苏达大学合作创建明尼苏达模式项目, which helps modernize K-12 agriculture education
“我们正在帮助学生了解，如果他们对技术感兴趣, education, agriculture or food production, this is a field that allows them to use technology,” says Steven Corkery, 明尼苏达大学企业参与中心的助理副总裁.
It starts with teachers
The CHS Foundation supports teachers who are committed to bringing ag-related lessons to their students. 通过全国农业课堂教学(NAITC), for example, 本基金会为参加全国会议的教师提供奖学金, resources to bring ag literacy into the classroom and the chance to experience agriculture in a specific region.
“Our relationship with the CHS Foundation has been really important for increasing the number of teachers we’re able to bring to the conference and providing classroom grants,” says Andy Guffey, NAITC executive director. “这数百名教师正在影响数千名学生.”
CHS基金会也为全国教育运动提供支持, 这为有抱负的新教育者在课堂上发挥作用提供了一条途径.
瑞秋·索沃拉(Rachel Sauvola)是威斯康星州新里士满的一名高中教师., has been an ag educator for24 years. Her passion, she says, is mentoring teachers and pre-service teachers to help them be the best educators they can be — and the Future Agriscience Teacher Symposium (part of the National Teach Ag Campaign) enables her to do that.
“We train college students who are studying to be teachers to think about how they can encourage students, ask important and challenging questions, and move away from the textbook,” Sauvola says. “Ag education is different now. We have hands-on labs and experiences that make our students think about how they can help solve world problems.”
Focus on cooperatives
作为美国最大的农民合作社的慈善机构.S.在美国，CHS基金会致力于保持合作体系的强大和繁荣.
First supported in 1959, 北达科他州农民联盟(NDFU)是最早提供合作教育的实体之一. 2020年，CHS基金会支持新詹姆斯敦营地设施的发展.
“我们对暑期工作人员进行合作商业模式方面的培训,” says NDFU Director Miranda Letherman. 他们反过来教营员合作社如何运作的基本知识, 营员们将这些知识运用到经营自己的合作商店中. 露营者将这些技能带回家，并在北达科他州的社区分享.”
The CHS Foundation also partnered with Discovery Education to build the Cooperative Minds platform, an online portal that features free videos, curricula, career profiles and other resources to educate students about the cooperative business model and careers.
“We’re thankful to farmers, ranchers and cooperatives for being part of the CHS family and helping the CHS Foundation continue its mission,” says Lilja of the CHS Foundation. “We are looking forward to the next75 years of working together to drive growth and development among students and teachers who are helping shape the future of the agriculture industry.”
Check out the full C magazine with this article and more.