Granite Technical Institute agricultural educator Kristina Gowans is one of a select group of teachers nationwide who received the 2014 Teachers Turn the Key professional development scholarship.

The National Association of Agriculture Educations sponsors the scholarship, which brings together agricultural educators with four or fewer years of experience and immerses them in three days of professional development that addresses issues specific to the early years of teaching agriculture.

This is a great honor for Kristina, but it’s certainly not a surprise to her colleagues and students. Here’s an excerpt from a press release issued by the NAAE:

Since being hired as an agriculture teacher at Granite Technical Institute in 2010, Gowans has used standards and objectives provided by the state department of education to develop floriculture/greenhouse management and introduction to horticulture courses.

Gowans has also developed a program through a partnership with nearby Wheeler Farm that allows students to get hands-on experience at a variety of farm tasks

With the help of the agricultural education advisory board at Granite, Gowans also organized an agricultural job shadow day. Students shadowed agriculture professionals at area businesse,s including Banfield Pet Hospital, Wheeler Farm, Wasatch Shadows nursery and Farm Service Agency.