The Montezuma-Cortez High School agricultural program was selected the best in the state by the National Association of Agricultural Educators back in May.
High School Agricultural teacher Amanda Ramos said this was not something the program could seek or ask for because the school and its program had to be nominated.
The agricultural programs that were nominated were evaluated on eight different categories overview, teaching philosophy, instruction, experiential learning, student organizations, partnerships, marketing, professional growth and letters of reference.
On each of the categories the nominated programs received a rubric score in four grading areas, which were excellent, good, fair and poor, though Ramos had no idea the score her program received.
After Ramos and fellow agricultural teacher Kevin McComb were informed the program had been nominated, the two wrote what they do and found photos to prove what the students do that represented the eight categories they were to be graded on.
In Ramos written presentation to the NAAE, Ramos explained the philosophy and dynamics of a fairly new teacher working with a teacher with more than 30 years experience, since both teachers taught in different ways that complemented each other.
She also wrote about the supervised agricultural experience program where students are able to take what they learned in the classroom and apply what was learned to their own projects, businesses or jobs.
Since the M-CHS agriculture program was named the best in the state, its information that received Colorados top score will be sent to the regionals competition program that will be held in Louisiana.
Ramos said three years ago the high schools agricultural program finished second in the state, but last year it was not nominated.
She said part of the reason the schools had to be nominated to proceed to the next level of the competition is because most agricultural teachers would never boast about their programs unless they were approached like they were for this program.
Ramos said she was not sure how many high school agricultural programs were nominated, but added she knows more than M-CHS received one. There are 96 high school agricultural programs in the state, and each one has an FFA chapter.
Even though the high school had done well in other agricultural programs and contests, Ramos said she was still surprised when she received an email from the state president of the agricultural teachers association that told her the results.
I couldnt believe it because there are a lot of good programs in the state, she said. This is really good. It shows that we are doing the right things for kids and people recognize that.
She said, while the recognition is nice, she and McComb, who retired at the end of the school year, always strived to improve the program.
For us, it was just a great opportunity for us to step back and look at the whole program, she said. Ramos also said this gives them good motivation to keep doing what they have been doing.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
