WYOMING

State Contact: VACANT Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom 2219 Carey Avenue Cheyenne, WY 82002

Phone: (307) 777-6618 Fax: (307) 777-6593 Website

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Classroom Resources
Food, Land and People in-service CD
Wyoming Ag Map
Ag Expo Training Guide
University of Wyoming Pre-service Training CD
Natural Resource Discovery Rendezvous Teacher's Manual
Natural Resource Discovery Tool Chest CD
Country to Classroom 2007

Major Program Accomplishments
Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom conducted professional development workshops at local school districts for over 300 teachers. WAIC is in its final year of completing the 1.5 million dollar Endowment Challenge set forth by EnCana Oil & Gas USA (Inc). A new $250,000 Challenge by the Walton Family has been given to WAIC. These challenges will be met by October 2008 which will provide stable financial foundation for programs.

WAICs Country to Classroom publication is growing by leaps and bounds. Through an ACE grant, WAIC was able to increase the distribution of this publication from 65,000 to 100,000.This newspaper publication goes to all school children in the state and the general populous as well.

Our Annual Bookmark Contest met many milestones. With a record number of entries and over 97,000 copies of the bookmarks made, the program is growing into a premier event for Wyoming students. To obtain copies of chosen bookmarks please visit our website at www.wyomingagclassroom.org or contact our office at 307-777-6618.

The Natural Resource Discovery Rendezvous is a college level class for teachers, which are hosted by WAIC annually. The Class was held in Baggs, Wyoming. This year yielded 41 participants and for the first time WAIC had a waiting list of 82 teachers. The class was partly funded by grant funds as well as private donations.

WAIC was also a part of an intensive study program in conjunction with Youth Alternatives and The City of Cheyenne. A group of at-risk K-6 students were part of the program which tracked their academic performance and growth over a 6 month period. Selected students were involved in an after school program that met five days a week and used Agriculture and natural resources as a way to build academic skill sets. The data obtained was promising. All students involved in the program made large academic improvements. Parents and teachers also saw improvements in behavior and attitudes towards family and school.

Major Program Impacts
96% of the teachers attending WAIC workshops stated that the lessons provided by WAIC assists them in reaching district and state standards.

Of the 76 teachers that attended the pre-service workshop, 97% agreed that the lessons was teacher friendly, easy to incorporate into lesson plans, and would utilize the lessons in their student teaching.

Of the teachers that attended our summer workshops, 95% have taught more than nine lessons in their classroom, and 5% have taught between 1-7 lessons reaching over 7,000 students with agriculture literacy lessons.

WAICs Country to Classroom publication reached more than 100,000 students and families in Wyoming. This greatly increased the exposure of critical issues facing Wyoming agriculture and natural resources to Wyoming citizens which was made possible through the ACE grant.

More than 1,500 bookmarks were designed in classrooms and home schools statewide for the 13th annual bookmark contest.

97,000 bookmarks were printed and distributed nationwide.