A Cherokee County Teacher was selected for the 2021 National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award. 

Karen Garland, a Science teacher at Clark Creek Middle School in Acworth, is one of the eight winners across the country. She uses a school garden to teach kindergarteners about the five senses, first graders about the   water cycle, second graders about plant and animal life cycles, third graders about habitat conservation and soil health, fourth graders about the weather and ecosystems and fifth graders about erosion and other destructive forces in the garden and classification systems. 

Karen won the Award for the State of Georgia, now she will be invited to the 2021 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference  in Des Moines, Iowa.

The National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization (NAITCO), U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and Farm Credit partner each year to honor teachers in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (Pre-K-12) from around the country for the innovative ways they use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies, STEM, STEAM and more.