Americus-Sumter High receives grant from Monsanto Corp.

AMERICUS — Americus-Sumter High School has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Monsanto Corporation to enhance the Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) and the science departments. The grant is meant to strengthen students’ problem solving skills by providing them experiences in applying what has been learned through innovation and research.
“Over recent years, we have felt the need to involve our CTAE teachers in collaborative planning with core academic teachers,” said Sumter County Schools CTAE Director Sharon Jackson. “There is a need for groups of teachers from varying academic backgrounds and expertise to come together and realize opportunities to establish how common content may be aligned to design activities and serve as a purpose for prescribed professional learning. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation where core academic teachers may enhance their ability to offer more contextual teaching examples within the classroom and the CTAE teachers may enhance academic content correlation and delivery within their classrooms. CTAE teachers are then better equipped to have students apply academic knowledge to real world situations.”
The grant was made possible when local farmer and Sumter County School board member, Jim Reid, nominated the school to apply.
“We are truly thankful that a local farmer thought of nominating and introducing us to this possibility. We express our gratitude and anticipate a wealth of benefits to our students and teachers,” said Donnie Smith, Sumter Schools superintendent.
Principal Kimothy Hadley said, “The major focus of this project is to ensure that students become more astute critical thinkers, problem solvers and communicators. Enhancing these skills is vital for their future success and ultimately may lead to more rewarding career options.”
Jackson had been a judge at science fairs in the past and saw how good ideas were often undermined by a lack of resources to execute those ideas. This grant will help solve that problem.
“I wanted the students to have the supplies and materials that would allow their presentations to be more presentable and competitive,” she said. “I would like to see more of our students advancing to competitions outside of the region. We want to ensure that our graduates are college and career ready as they transition to institutions of higher learning or the world of work.”
The grant also allows for teacher collaboration and instruction to help teachers integrate core educational content with CTAE programs which focuses on real world skills such as agriculture, automotive, and health care. This grant will allow teachers the opportunity to figure out ways that core science knowledge may be integrated into the instruction of practical vocations.