CCHS’s Lundberg receives ag awards

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Longtime Charles City High School agricultural educator Jim Lundberg was awarded the Agriculture Career Awareness Award and the Integration of Science Award from the Iowa Council on Agricultural Education recently.

The council reviews, develops and recommends standards for secondary and postsecondary agricultural education. Established in 1988 by the state Legislature, the council is appointed by the governor annually and made up of nine voting members.

The purpose of the awards is to identify what makes a highly successful agriculture education program in schools and recognize those who model that success, according to information from the council.

Lundberg, who is in his 37th year of teaching at Charles City, received the Agriculture Career Awareness Award because of his work with a careers class at CCHS. Every sophomore in the agriculture program takes the careers class, in which they research careers, build resumes, conduct mock interviews and complete a job shadow.

Through this course, Charles City agriculture students get exposed to potential careers early. Lundberg brings in speakers, takes students on college visits, tours many different business and closely monitors their supervised agricultural experiences.

The Integration of Science award is due to Lundberg’s success with cross-curricular work with the Family Consumer Sciences and Culinary Department. Lundberg has co-taught classes with the family and consumer sciences teachers. Students research the growing methods of vegetable crops, develop food dishes and host several “farm to fork” events.

The awards and others received by teachers and school districts around the state will be presented at the Iowa Association of Agriculture Educators Conference held in Ames, June 22-24.

Iowa Council on Agricultural Education members represent all areas of agriculture and diverse geographical areas. The council includes representation from secondary schools, postsecondary schools and a teacher-educator, as well as representatives from Iowa FFA, Iowa FFA Alumni, the Postsecondary Agriculture Student Organization of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and members of the Iowa Legislature.

Agriculture education is offered in 246 high schools across Iowa with more than 20,998 students enrolled in agricultural education courses.

Earlier this year, Lundberg was honored as a finalist for the 2019-2020 Ag Educator of the Year honor, through the Nationwide Insurance Golden Owl Award. The annual award recognizes outstanding Iowa ag educators for their contributions in preparing the next generation of young people for successful careers in agriculture.