Home Virginia Superintendent Dr. Lisa Coons visits Waynesboro Schools’ farm, STEP Learning Lab, CTE
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Virginia Superintendent Dr. Lisa Coons visits Waynesboro Schools’ farm, STEP Learning Lab, CTE

Rebecca Barnabi
Virginia Superintendent of Public Schools Dr. Lisa Coons visited the Waynesboro Education Farm on Friday, March 15, 2024. Photos by Rebecca J. Barnabi.

Waynesboro Education Farm Educator Ryan Blosser introduced himself to Kate Collins Middle School students behind Berkeley Glenn Elementary School Friday morning with a special guest in the audience.

School board members and staff gathered to meet Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons as students responded to Blosser’s question of “Who’s farm is this?”

“Our farm!”

The Waynesboro Education Farm not only provides produce for members of the Waynesboro community, but education for students to learn and understand where food comes from.

Waynesboro Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Cassell said that agriculture was added as a workforce pathway to the school system’s high school courses two years ago to spread “the joy of gardening and being outside if you don’t want to work in” the industry.

“What’s been great about this project is we’ve had a combination of local funding but also the Extended School Year funding we were awarded,” Assistant Superintendent Dr. Ryan Barber said.

Before a tour of the farm, Coons read to students in a Berkeley Glenn classroom.

After Berkeley Glenn Elementary, Coons visited Waynesboro Schools’ STEP Learning Lab for adults with special needs. Students were learning about payday and how to pay bills and balance a budget.

She visited Waynesboro Schools’ Career & Technical Education, where students learn about digital and media, culinary, child development and much more. An EMT course will begin in fall 2024.

Waynesboro eighth-grade students create business plan, marketing for farm produce – Augusta Free Press

Harvest time: Kate Collins Middle’s student-run market open Thursday afternoons – Augusta Free Press

 

 

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca J. Barnabi is the national editor of Augusta Free Press. A graduate of the University of Mary Washington, she began her journalism career at The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. In 2013, she was awarded first place for feature writing in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Awards Program, and was honored by the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2019 Media Honor Roll Program for her coverage of Waynesboro Schools. Her background in newspapers includes writing about features, local government, education and the arts.