University News

You may have seen Western Illinois University alumna Rena Rose on the local news or read about her in a western Illinois-based newspaper recently. A Burnside (IL) resident and fourth-grade teacher at Nauvoo-Colusa schools, Rose, a 1998 WIU graduate, was recently selected as the 2017 Illinois Ag Teacher of the Year by officials at the Illinois Ag in the Classroom (IAITC) organization.
[Download Print-Quality Image]

WIU Alumna Selected at IL Ag Teacher of the Year

November 7, 2016

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB, IL — You may have seen Western Illinois University alumna Rena Rose on the local news or read about her in a western Illinois-based newspaper recently. A Burnside (IL) resident and fourth-grade teacher at Nauvoo-Colusa schools, Rose, a 1998 WIU graduate, was recently selected as the 2017 Illinois Ag Teacher of the Year by officials at the Illinois Ag in the Classroom (IAITC) organization. Western Illinois media outlets, such as KHQA-TV, WGEM-TV, the Hancock County Journal Pilot and the Quincy Herald Whig, distributed stories about Rose's accomplishment. Her selection also means she is the Illinois nominee for the National Excellence in Teaching Agriculture Award, and she was chosen for the recognition out of 11,000 eligible teachers across Illinois.

Hancock County Farm Bureau Manager Kristin Huls and Hancock County Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Dawn Weinberg nominated her for the work Rose (who was the runner up for the same award last year) does to incorporate agriculture lessons into her instruction. Next month, she will receive the award in Chicago at the Illinois Farm Bureau Convention, and as part of her selection, she also received a trip to the 2017 National Ag in the Classroom conference in Kansas City (MO) next June.

Rose said she learned she won the award one recent morning, during the Nauvoo-Colusa School's daily start-of-the-day routine.

"Our school has a morning opening program in the gym, during which we have announcements and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I was shocked by the announcement that I had won it this year," she explained. "I had no clue I was nominated again this year!"

Rose said, as an educator, it feels great to be nominated for anything.

"Every teacher I know puts a lot of hard work and dedication into his or her job, and I love to add agriculture into my lessons whenever I can. I think it is important that kids know where their food and fiber comes from, how it is grown and the process that takes food from farm to table," she explained.

Rose credits her co-workers for being open to her ideas to help teach kids about agriculture.

"I could not do what I do without the co-workers I work with every day. This past spring, we planted a pollinator project outside of the school, which we were able to do because of a grant from the Great River Quail Forever chapter. The kids have been able to see the project grow and see what animals visited the habitat, including butterflies, bees, etc. My students also put together an agriculture newsletter for the elementary grades. For this project, two students are given a topic, and they research it together and write up the main ideas related to what they are looking up. They love working on this project," she added.

Rose graduated with her degree in elementary education from WIU in 1998. She began her teaching career at Nauvoo-Colusa in 2002 and has been there ever since.

"The education I received at Western was a great experience, and I had some wonderful teachers. One teacher who really inspired me was Nancy Chu," Rose noted. "She showed the importance of adding picture books into your curriculum, and she was so dramatic in class, she made the books come to life."

Rose noted the one of the most important things she instills in her students is to "thank a farmer for their hard work and dedication to the agriculture industry."

Posted By: Teresa Koltzenburg (WIUNews@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing